Season success pales into significance due to Lauda's death: Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is yet to come to terms with Niki Lauda's death. - AFP

It has been coming thick and fast and this season has been another dominant one for Mercedes, with them being a cut above the rest on the F1 grid.
The German marquee, which has their base at Brackley, England, racked up an unprecedented sixth Drivers' and Constructors' World Championship with Briton Hamilton clinching his sixth and his fifth with the team.
Hamilton raced to 10 wins out of 21 races this season to be perched on top ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. And as a team, Mercedes have been streets ahead of their rivals Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. With such a remarkable season playing out, quite obviously, there have been some very good moments and memories littered along the way.
But team principal Toto Wolff said moments and memories pale into significance following three-time world champion Niki Lauda's death this year.
Lauda, who raced for March, BRM, Ferrari, Brabham and McLaren during the 70s and 80s, passed away in May due to ill health. Lauda, aged 70, was the non-executive chairman of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, and had been a huge influence not just on Hamilton but also Wolff.
The Silver Arrows paid tribute to the Austrian by painting their halo device red and with the words 'Niki we miss you.' Lauda always wore a red cap.
Wolff was asked to pick a highlight of the season and the fellow Austrian said any moments during the season didn't matter because of Lauda's passing.
"For me the. I don't want to talk about the best moment because the overshadowing event was Niki's death," Wolff said at the Yas Marina Circuit.
"That is kind of the big theme of the season for us, so I was thinking when I had a moment which I felt like being the best and I didn't, of course. we are very grateful to win the championship but this one moment just overshadows everything else," added the 47-year-old.
james@khaleejtimes.com