Wolff reveals hardest part in supporting son Jack’s racing

For most Formula 1 team principals, a race weekend is about lap times, strategy calls and trying to keep a lid on the pressure. For Toto Wolff, however, there is another form of motorsport that can test his emotional control just as effectively: watching his nine-year-old son race a kart.

Wolff was recently trackside in Italy as Jack Wolff competed in the, where the youngster added another victory to an increasingly impressive season. The result moved Jack to the top of the championship standings heading into the season finale.

For his father, though, the experience is less about championship calculations and more about navigating the delicate line between encouragement and pressure.

The Mercedes boss knows that line particularly well after operating for so many years in the highly charged environment of Formula 1, where fractions of a second can determine whether a driver leaves the circuit smiling or staring into the abyss.

But when the young charger in question is your nine-year-old son, keeping the emotions under control is an entirely different challenge.

‘Formula 1 is basically this on steroids’

Watching Jack compete also gives Wolff a reminder of where the sport begins before the glamour, enormous budgets and global spotlight of F1 enter the picture.

“This is where it all starts. Formula 1 is basically this on steroids,” Wolff said while interviewed after his son’s win. “Same kind of racing and watching the kids is just a super experience.”

There is, however, one rather important difference between watching a Grand Prix and watching your child battle for position: the parental nerves.

Asked whether he felt the pressure of fighting for the championship, Jack offered a wonderfully uncomplicated answer: “Yes.”

That single word perhaps summed up the challenge facing both father and son. Jack is already competing seriously enough to find himself leading a championship, but he is still only nine years old – an age when racing should remain as much about fun as results.

Wolff admitted that maintaining that perspective is not always easy.

“It’s important to find the right balance because obviously as a parent you’re emotionally involved and it’s completely normal,” the Mercedes chief explained.

“But he’s nine years old, there are so many small kids and you need to strike the balance right, and we try. Sometimes we get it wrong.

“You have difficult moments and he had some difficult moments today and in the end it comes all together, and every little failure is a learning for the future,” he added.

That may sound familiar to anyone who has ever watched their child compete in sport – except Wolff happens to have considerably more experience than most when it comes to dealing with the emotional rollercoaster of racing.

But even with all that experience, he accepts that there will be moments when the parent rather than the Mercedes boss takes over.

For Wolff, the biggest priority is therefore not turning Jack into the next great karting sensation as quickly as possible. It is making sure the youngster actually enjoys the journey.

Read also:

• A new Wolff in town: Jack claims his first karting win

Asked what advice he would give parents whose children are climbing the fiercely competitive junior karting ladder, Wolff kept his answer refreshingly simple:

“Just give them time. They’re so small, let them enjoy the karting, and that’s the most important,” he said.

With Jack now heading into the season finale as championship leader, the pressure may be building.

But if Toto Wolff has anything to do with it, there will still be plenty of room for a nine-year-old to simply enjoy going very fast in circles – and perhaps give his father a few more grey hairs along the way.

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