“Mister Silver Arrow” without expiration date

Toto Wolff will remain team boss of the German Formula 1 racing team Mercedes for another three years. The Austrian, who celebrated his 52nd birthday last Friday, said this in an interview with the British newspaper “The Telegraph” known. The Viennese will lead the team, in which he holds 33.3 percent of the shares, at least until the end of 2026. “At the end of the day, as a shareholder, I want to achieve the best return”explained Wolff. “And I 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 boreout than burnout.”

Wolff has been in office since 2013, under the leadership of the former racing driver “Silver Arrows” the title in the drivers’ championship seven times and the constructors’ championship eight times. In the past three years, however, Red Bull has taken over dominance. Max Verstappen is now a triple champion.

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, will be presented on February 14th. The new season – with 24 Grands Prix, the longest in the history of the premier motorsport class – begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2nd.

In December of the previous year, Wolff came under media fire. The World Motorsport Association (FIA) had announced that it would examine media reports that a Formula 1 team boss had been given confidential information by an employee of the rights holder.

The background was a portal’s report about an alleged conflict of interest between Wolff and his wife Susie, about which other Formula 1 officials allegedly complained to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Accordingly, Susie Wolff, who works for the Formula 1 marketer FOM, is said to have access to confidential knowledge from the top of the racing series as managing director of the Formula 1 Academy and allegedly shared this with her husband. In return, Toto Wolff may have informed his wife about conversations between the team bosses, so that this information in turn reached the rights holder.

Investigations stopped

Shortly afterwards, the nine other teams in the premier motorsport class published largely identical statements in which they assured that they had not lodged any complaints with the world association about a possible conflict of interest. The investigation was closed after two days.