Toto Wolff’s job may be on the line if he was boss at a different top team, according to F1 legend Hans-Joachim Stuck.
As Mercedes’ hopes for a more competitive car for 2024 fade after three races of the new season, Wolff admitted in Melbourne that questions about his future are "fair".
"I look at myself in the mirror every single day about everything I do so it is a fair question," he said. "But that is not what I feel that I should do at the moment."
But according to Stuck, an F1 driver of the 70s and two-time Le Mans winner in the subsequent decade, if Wolff was in charge at Red Bull or Ferrari, he may have been sacked by now.
"Mercedes is again simply not at the level of Red Bull and Ferrari," the 73-year-old German told Eurosport.
"It’s probably an advantage for him that he’s a co-owner," Stuck added, referring to Wolff’s equal one-third ownership of the team alongside Mercedes-Benz and Ineos.
"If it was a pure Mercedes team, I’m not sure he wouldn’t have been replaced already."
But that’s not the only job at Mercedes that should arguably be on the line, Stuck insists.
"To put it bluntly, the chief designer should be replaced," he said. "The idea generators in development simply lack the right approach."
Wolff will not be at the forthcoming Japanese GP, but he has often skipped some of the most distant overseas races in recent years.
Wolff has been very forthright in his assessment of Mercedes’ current performance issues, and told Kronen Zeitung newspaper that he may need a change of tack going forwards.
"We Austrians wear our hearts on our sleeves," he said, "and say things very directly. So I have to adapt the way I communicate so as not to create more pressure."