Toto Wolff admits he will tap into the expertise of Pep Guardiola after speaking with the Manchester City manager.
The Mercedes boss was seen in deep conversation with Guardiola at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as two great managerial minds exchanged ideas.
Wolff and Guardiola had first met at a Q&A for sponsors Puma and the F1 supremo admits he was taken aback by how similar their approaches are, albeit in their different sporting fields.
“The two of us, we didn’t know each other but when I heard him talking, it was like my sentences, the same approach – and he said the same about me," Wolff told Beyond the Grid.
“Fundamentally, it’s down to human management, and he is someone that is certainly going to be part of my journey going forward because he was just on the same wavelength, and even the family was on the same wavelength between Susie and I."
Mercedes are hoping for an improvement in 2023 after just one race win last season as George Russell claimed victory in Sao Paulo.
It was the first campaign that teammate Lewis Hamilton did not register a single success, with the former world champion finishing in 6th spot overall, with Russell in 4th.
Wolff admits he has took lessons from the setback and believes his principles have remained the same over the course of his tenure.
“I think I’ve always been competitive,” he added. “First of all, I like to meet my own expectations and the standards I set for myself and the organisation, but also because we are in a relative sport. So that has stayed the same every single season.
“But obviously it has been a journey. I learned, I developed as a personality, good things and bad things, and I wouldn’t want to miss the 2022 season, because I grew.”
Russell meanwhile believes Mercedes have learned their lessons from 2022 and has sent a warning to Red Bull, who have won back-to-back world titles with Max Verstappen.
Reflecting on an overall frustrating season and the motivation for next year, Russell told BBC Radio Norfolk : "They haven't forgotten how to build a fast race car. We just got it wrong this year.
"We got the philosophy wrong. We went down a route which turned out to be the wrong route. Sometimes it takes you a long time to dig yourself out of that hole. Now I feel we've dug ourselves out of that hole and we're building on top of that.”
