Toto Wolff has praised the impact that former Red Bull COO Jayne Poole has had on Mercedes since joining the team at the start of 2023. Poole was brought in as a special advisor at the Silver Arrows, with her role being to advise on where improvements could be made within the squad after evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. While Wolff has led Mercedes for several years – including through their period of dominance between 2014 and 2020 – the Team Principal admits that gaining the perspective of somebody from outside of the organisation, like Poole, can be helpful.
Wolff on benefit of 'fresh eyes' at Mercedes
"Now and then, if an organisation becomes mature and follows its processes and strategies, and it's successful, you need to get an outside perspective, and you need to shake it up," Wolff told Motorsport.com . "You don't want to reinvent it, but you want to consider whether yesterday's assumptions are still competitive enough going forward. And therefore, having somebody come in with fresh eyes, looking at it in a very neutral way, is beneficial. "So, from time to time, even in a successful organisation, you need to parachute good external people in, because they help you to do the next step."
Poole's role at Red Bull a 'large part of their success', says Wolff
Wolff believes that Poole has been able to play an important role at Mercedes as the team look to improve their fortunes following their recent struggles. "Jayne is a person that I admired over the last 10 years, that I got to know 10 years ago, and I always had a very respectful relationship with," Wolff explained. "She worked for the competitor, but you can respect people working for a competitor and acknowledge their performance. Her role at Red Bull was, in my opinion, a very large part of the success of the team over the last years. "That relationship came to an end, like many relationships come to a natural end. I wanted to hire Jayne for a long time, but it was just never an option. And then it became now. "She's a great addition. She has a lot of know-how, she's a great psychologist, she has seen another organisation, she knows everybody pretty much, and she has created forensic profiles of all of the good people in Formula 1. "Having her eyes is a very, very strong edge to the organisation."
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