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Wolff 'emotional' after selling final shares in Williams

Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff says he is "emotional" after selling his final shares in Williams.

Wolff became a shareholder at Williams in 2009, but has since been selling off his shares since joining Mercedes in 2013. The Austrian says he learned a lot during his time at Williams and is sad his links with the team have now come to an official end.

"I am surprised how emotional I am about this day, to be cutting my final business ties to Sir Frank Williams and to the team at Williams," Wolff said.

"Having entered the team from a pure investment perspective, I soon found myself in a much more active role, helping to restructure this great independent F1 team.

"I am proud to have joined the sport with a team of true passionate racers, where we had to make spot-on decisions for the future of the business and its employees; I learned some lessons the hard way, but they were all valuable for understanding the industry."

Wolff's final shares have been purchased by US businessman Brad Hollinger, who was already a shareholder and increases his stake in Williams to 15%.

"Given his role at Mercedes-Benz, a full divestment in Toto's shareholding became inevitable and we thank him for this judiciousness in only selling to a suitable buyer when the time was right," team founder Sir Frank Williams said.

"In Brad Hollinger, Toto has sold his full shareholding to a highly successful businessman with an immense passion for Formula 1 and our team - he is a great asset."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.