Wolff 'cannot walk away', more committed than ever to F1

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted that he did briefly consider walking away from the sport in 2020 when his previous contract expired.

But he decided to sign up for more instead, and he says that this has made him more committed than ever to Formula 1 and that he has no intention of going anywhere despite the team's current struggles.

“It’s my company, it's my team,” he explained in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com in Melbourne last week. “I'm one of three shareholders, and I need to pinch myself every day of this opportunity.

"It's not a 'project' anymore, it's my company," he added. “The problem is I cannot even walk away. I can only bring up talent and change the scope of my activities to go in a way."

Wolff's original role in Formula 1 was as a shareholder in the Williams Racing team in 2009. It quickly gave him a taste beyond just being a business investment, and he moved to Mercedes to become team principal in 2013.

It heralded a period of success unprecedented in the sport, with the Silver Arrows securing eight consecutive constructors championships from 2014 under his stewardship.

• Read also: Russell will 'reassess' bold Red Bull claim after Mercedes updates

But when his third three-year contact with the team came to an end in 2020, he did contemplate calling time on his F1 stint and walking away to return to the world of business.

"When I really enjoyed it, I signed another three-year deal, and I really enjoyed it," he explained. "It was 2013/14/15, plus 2016/17/18, and then I signed another one - 2019/20/21.

"And then came the crucial moment," he declared. "In 2020, I didn't know if I wanted to continue doing this or not.

“In 2020, I was thinking [about it],” he admitted. “My plan in a way was that when I'm 49, I'm going to stop doing this. Because as a 50-year-old, you're grown up, you're not being team manager anymore."

Wolff said that the original intention had been to "buy the shares, and sell the shares, like investments in our finance industry" but that "in 2020, I came to the conclusion to say 'I'm going to keep this'.

“For the first time in my life I changed my business strategy - from an investment guy who buys, develops and sells, to buy, develop, keep. It was a big change.

"I wanted to become a real entrepreneur and keep this forever," he said. “It took me one year to digest that - that I don't want to go back into the industry where I have been doing that for 25 years.

"That was the moment to keep on," he stated. "It was always previously linked to a contractual term, whereas now it's not anymore."

Wolff owns a one third stake of the race team, along with the Daimler AG and Ineos, a multinational chemicals company headed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe who is currently in talks to take over Manchester United football club.

Problems with last year's car saw Mercedes slump to third place in the 2022 standings behind Red Bull and Ferrari.

There was a troubled start to 2023 as well, but second place for Lewis Hamilton in the most recent Australian GP has given the squad hope that they are on the way back to seriously challenging for wins and even titles again.

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