SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

Wolff to skip Japanese GP to have knee surgery

Toto Wolff has announced that, a week after the forthcoming Singapore GP, he will not be joining Formula 1 as the sport makes the long haul to Japan.

A couple of years ago, the Mercedes boss said that because of the ever-longer F1 calendars, he will start to skip a few races.

He also sat out Suzuka last year, and he missed the Brazilian GP in 2019.

But Wolff told Kronen Zeitung that the reason for his absence at the Japanese GP is because of some scheduled knee surgery.

He explained to the Austrian newspaper that he cannot currently fully extend his left arm following a mountain biking fall during the August break.

I rode over slippery rocks, said Wolff. "It wasn't that I couldn't handle it, but I wanted to support myself with my left leg - and it just snapped because I no longer have a cruciate ligament.

"After Singapore I'm going to the Hochrum Clinic (in Austria), where I will get a new ligament. Then I can do everything I want to again.

I'll skip Japan, then it's a free weekend after that. I'd like to be walking around in Qatar without crutches. Then it's even possible that I can ski in the winter, he added.

Wolff said in August that, if he is ever absent at grands prix, he will be replaced by new deputy Mercedes chief Jerome d'Ambrosio, a former F1 driver.
(GMM)