Premcar turns 30 in 2026. To celebrate, we’re sharing some of our carmaking knowledge. This time, it’s about blame, and the best way to manage it.
Toto Wolff is an impressive leader.
As Team Principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1, his team won seven consecutive double Drivers’ and Constructors’ F1 World Championships from 2014 to 2020 and secured a record-breaking eight consecutive Constructors’ Championship success in 2021.
Motor racing is a problem-solving sport, which means he would easily be one of the world’s best problem-solving CEOs.
His problem-solving philosophy underpins his team’s no-blame culture. It’s a masterclass in how to use logic to create progress and success when things aren’t working properly.
“We blame the problem and not the person,” he has previously said, adding that his team approaches issues as collective problems, not problems pinned to a person.
He says the team does not blame the person but instead blames and addresses the processes that lead to the problem.
It’s a genius approach because motor racing is a problem-solving sport.
Even when you’ve won as much as the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, problems don’t go away.
And with a total team of more than 1,000 employees and so much at stake, personal blame would seem inevitable in his team.
Blame at that scale would trigger every negative emotion a high-performing team must avoid, which is why Wolff cleverly removes the conditions for these emotions to grow.
It means his team of ultra-high-performers can always work at their best, and solve the team’s stream of endless problems quickly, and without fear.
It also means the top performers that he spent years attracting to his team will stay, and not leave to apply their skills with the opposition.
Like motorsport, carmaking is all about problem solving.
And just as it is in motorsport, blame pushes you backwards, it doesn’t drive you forwards.
Adopt Toto Wolff’s approach to blame. Blame the process and not the person.
It turns problems into success.
Bernie Quinn, CEO of Premcar
About Premcar:
Premcar Pty Ltd is a leading Australian vehicle engineering business that specialises in the automotive, defence and aerospace industries. For 30 years, global car-makers have made Premcar their go-to partner for the complete design, engineering and manufacture of niche-model new cars, full-scale new-vehicle development programs, and electric vehicle (EV) conversions and manufacturing. Premcar’s body of work is extensive. It is the name behind more than 213,000 new cars and 55,000 new-vehicle engines. The company has delivered technical advancements and sales success for major car brands from Europe, the USA, Japan, China and Australia. Visit premcar.au.
