F1 Racing Confidential: Inside Stories from the World of Formula 1, The figures who shine a light on the sport, from big names like Toto Wolff and Lando Norris to the unsung engineers and strategists who keep it going
“One of the strengths (and perhaps weaknesses) of my character is that I take everything personally,” Toto Wolff said. “When I joined, the team became my tribe; it was all-encompassing. Every day, from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, that’s all I do. Care about the people, care about how we can succeed .”
Wolff, 52, oversees a Mercedes team that has been at the top of F1 and is fighting to get back there. When he joined in 2013, the Mercedes Performance Powertrain engine plant in Brixworth employed around 520 people and the Mercedes F1 team employed 660 people. Today, the organization has a total strength of 2,500 and sponsorship revenue has increased from £50 million to over £300 million a year. Wolff insists, however, that we should shrug off the intensity of the challenges and competition.
“I never felt pressure,” he said. “I take calculated risks, which means I can deal with the worst outcome. If the worst outcome really affected my quality of life, I wouldn’t make this decision. If you have experienced this in your life Going through tough times that everyone goes through, F1 is a walk in the park by comparison.”
When Wolff joined Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton also moved from McLaren. He won one title in 2014 and five more in 2020; between 2014 and 2021, the team will win eight constructors’ titles. But every team has two drivers, and managing their relationship is key. Wolff entered driver management early in his career as co-owner of a sports management company whose clients included Pastor Maldonado, Bruno Senna, Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg. Advancing their careers is his goal. At Mercedes, however, the task is completely different.
Wolff brings his team’s overriding philosophy to fruition. “Because Lewis and Nico [Rosberg] They’re both big stars and I’m relatively new to F1, so it’s been an interesting journey for me,” he said. “But I said to them and everyone from the beginning, I don’t have two superstars; I have a thousand superstars. I don’t think there is any difference between any employee and a driver.”
Hamilton and Rosberg clashed in Belgium and Monaco in 2014; tempers flared after Hamilton won in Texas in 2015; and they famously knocked each other out of Barcelona in 2016, Rosberg went on to win his only title that year. The two were friends in their youth while racing karts, but their relationship fell apart when they competed for the title. These are tough characters who are hard to contain.
“Well, there’s ego, but I really like ego because ego is a powerful driver,” Wolfe said. “But it needs to be channeled, it needs to be tempered. I believe the top performers have egos, they have an advantage, but that makes them very powerful.”
To this end, he also believes a certain level of outspokenness and honesty is crucial, something he had to address from the moment he joined Mercedes, conveying something troubling to the Mercedes-Benz board. fact. In the summer of 2012, Wolfe, then an executive director at Williams, was asked to evaluate the team, specifically why they hadn’t had more success since purchasing the brand from Brown. What he found did not satisfy the board.
“I told them: ‘I have exactly the same budget at Williams, my expectation is top six, and you have the same budget, your expectation is world championship – and that’s what’s wrong,'” he said. “They were very angry, but I said: ‘Don’t shoot the messenger…’
“So when I came in, I told Mercedes I needed to have the same budget as our main rivals Ferrari and Red Bull. I can’t guarantee that it will win us the championship, but I can guarantee that if you don’t give it to We, you’re not going to win the championship. The board said: ‘Tell us what you need.'”
The expense may not have been in Mercedes’ original plans, but the extraordinary success that followed certainly made up for it. Wolfe displays the same critical honesty he has displayed throughout his career. He was born in Vienna in 1972 but had no interest in motorsport until, at the age of 18, he went to watch an F3 race at the Nurburgring with friends on the weekends. “I remember walking on the grid, standing next to those F3 cars, and I was stunned and realized this is what I wanted to do,” he said. He describes it as “the moment I found my identity” and became fascinated by it. “I don’t remember watching the race, but it was the drivers, in the starting cars, ready to go in their machines,” he said. “I wanted to do it right away, but I didn’t even know where to start.”
Often, Wolfe simply throws himself into finding the answers. He secured sponsors, bought a Seat Ibiza, attended the Walter Lechner Racing School and hit the track. He then switched to a Formula Ford 1600, but had bad luck in the first race at Brno. After a spin, he was T-boned by another car and suffered a broken finger and was taken to hospital in nearby Old Czechoslovakia.
“I was in this former communist hospital,” he recalled. “The X-ray machine looked like an antique, they said to me: ‘In operation‘. So I called my mother, who is an anesthesiologist, and I told her I broke my hand, and she said, ‘You idiot. I told you it was a waste of money.
“I told her they wanted to operate on me and she just said: ‘Get out of there!’ So I put on my hospital dressing gown, put on my trousers and ran outside. I jumped in the car and drove to Vienna, driving two days with my injured finger For an hour, try your best with one hand.”
He smiled as he described this as his “first Formula Ford adventure.” More would follow, but in the end Wolfe’s pragmatic side won out over his ambition. He admits he got a late start and decided to call it a day in 1994. I’m going to start a business. I’ve never looked back. “
However, there is one incident from his Mercedes career that has caused some reflection: the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where errors by then-race director Michael Masi played a role in deciding the outcome. Max Verstappen won, denying Hamilton his eighth title.
Wolff and Mercedes were furious at the time, but while it was clearly still outrageous, he insisted it had to be put into context. “This was certainly not the hardest moment of my life; there were a hundred harder,” he said. “I also know there are far greater tragedies happening in the world — look at Ukraine.”
Still, the feeling of injustice persists. “In a sport that is supposed to be fair, what happened is extremely unfair. All the ability, hard work and commitment of many people could still be thrown in the bin in a matter of seconds because someone made a mistake.” decision.
“Life is full of surprises. I never thought I would be here or that this team would be successful. I’m 52 now. Sounds old, but hopefully Mercedes F1 will be good for me again Thirty more years. The important thing is that when you hand over the baton at 80, you can say, ‘That was great. I’m happy with myself – I met my expectations for life.’
This is an edited excerpt F1 Racing Secrets, the inside story from the world of Formula 1written by Giles Richards, is published by Michael O’Mara Books on 29 February, priced £20
