Toto Wolff said in an interview with The Times that he never thought he would be the team principal of Mercedes F1 for 10 years. I said no.
Toto Wolff acquired part of the Williams F1 team in 2009 and became executive director three years later. In 2013, he decided to move to Mercedes F1 and play the same role in the new team.
“It was obvious that I was going to sign a three-year contract,” recalls Toto Wolff.
“I was the team principal, I was a 30 per cent shareholder (at the time) and it was agreed to sell the stake back to Mercedes once the project was finished.”
However, since 2014, when the hybrid era began, Mercedes has developed and was able to dominate F1.
“Three years later, everyone was enjoying the success, so I rolled in another three years later. But it was still a project.”
In 2020, Toto Wolff finally came to the conclusion that the decisions he had made over the past few years were correct, and that the role was therefore the right fit for him.
“I came to the conclusion that this is what I love. I love the sport side, I love the business side.”
