formula 1
Wolff extends contract as Mercedes team boss
Team boss Toto Wolff extended his contract with Mercedes. photo
© Expa/Johann Groder/apa/dpa
He is a co-owner. And he is not finished as team boss of the former industry leader Mercedes. Toto Wolff still has enough goals in Formula 1.
“At the end of the day, as a shareholder, I want to achieve the best return,” Wolff explained in the interview. “And I’ll get the most out of my investment if we win.” He emphasized that he would not stick to his position if he believed that someone else could do it better. Together with the main people responsible for the other two team shareholders, Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius and Sir Jim Ratcliffe from Ineos, they decided: “‘Let’s do it again’. The risk is more of a boreout than a burnout.”
Wolff has been in office since 2013. Under the leadership of the former racing driver from Vienna, the Silver Arrows won the title in the drivers’ championship seven times and even eight times in the constructors’ championship. In the past three years, however, Red Bull has taken over dominance and won three times in a row in the drivers’ championship thanks to Max Verstappen and in the constructors’ championship in the last two years.
The new Mercedes racing car, with which record world champion Lewis Hamilton and his British compatriot and teammate George Russell want to attack Red Bull and turn the world championship fight around, will be presented on February 14th. The new season – with 24 Grand Prix, the longest in the history of the premier motorsport class – begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2nd.