Toto Wolff, the creator of the hegemonic Mercedes who flees from the podiums and is not worried about records

Sabrina faija

11/04/2020 6:00

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 11/04/2020 9:23

There is a man who is as well known as the 20 drivers of Formula 1. And even more than any of them.

, or simply

, is the most important crew chief of the last decade.

The numbers leave no doubt, even less after Mercedes won its seventh consecutive constructors' title on Sunday, a record for the category.

But his story was not always one of smiles: the Austrian only knew success when he got out of the car and combined his investments with his passion for motorsport.

Toto Wolff was born 48 years ago in modest surroundings in Vienna and it wasn't until he was 17 that he had his first close encounter with a race car, through a friend who raced at the Nürburgring.

Although he began his sporting career in Austrian Formula Ford shortly thereafter, in the early 1990s, and even won the

in his category in 1994, it did not last long.

Three years after his debut, he focused on his studies at the

, where he developed his talents in the business field.

The adrenaline of a good surpass was found in

and in 1998 he founded his own company, Marchfifteen, which was added by Marchsixteen in 2004. The

of the late 1990s was key in his take-off: he invested in medium-sized companies dedicated to new technologies and multiplied its profits in just six years.

Although he got into a car again - he competed in the FIA ​​GT World Championship and in 2006 won the Bahrain 24 Hours - the fortune he had amassed as an investor allowed him to enter motorsport in a new role.

That same year, when he saw the public offering of HWA AG, the German company responsible for developing Mercedes-Benz racing cars for the German Touring Championship (DTM), he bought a 49% stake that he held until 2015.

His dream of entering Formula 1 came true in 2009

, when he managed to keep 15% of the shares of Williams, one of the most iconic teams in the category.

Just three years after his arrival, he was appointed CEO.

With his money and knowledge, the team returned to a podium when Pastor Maldonado became the first Venezuelan driver to win a Grand Prix, that of Spain on May 13, 2012. 

In 2013 he took a risk.

He left Williams for Mercedes, who had returned to F1 three years ago and

(Nico Rosberg at the 2012 Chinese GP).

It bought a 30 percent stake in Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd and injected

so that the German team would have the best engineers and develop the best hybrid engines.

Mercedes gave him the title of team manager at the end of 2013 and Toto assumed full responsibility for the motorsport program, from F1 to Formula E. The results were not long in coming: in 2014, his drivers won

and Lewis Hamilton earned his first team title, the second of his career.

On the podium in Abu Dhabi, the English was accompanied by Wolff, something that would not be repeated.

Mercedes' unbeaten record also drew criticism from rivals, such as when Christian Horner, the boss of Red Bull - the absolute dominator of F1 just before Mercedes - asked the FIA ​​to change the rules in 2015. "If you need to ask for equality and you cry after the first race, it's not the way others have done in the past. It's about putting your fucking head down, working hard, and solving the problem.

"replied the Austrian after the first race of that season, which Hamilton won in Australia.

A year later, it was once again the focus of the news when Nico Rosberg announced his retirement and Wolff relied on another of his endeavors:

that he put with the two-time Formula One world champion

"to return financing and guidance for young pilots ", which he had lacked.

From there, he took the name of Valtteri Bottas, who had been at Williams for four years and had a current contract for two more when he executed an exit clause to go to Mercedes.

With the Finn as Hamilton's teammate, calm returned to Mercedes and the Briton consecutively won the 2017, 2018 and 2019 titles. And now he is heading towards Michael Schumacher's record of seven in 2020.

Hamilton and Toto Wolff after winning the seventh title in a row for Mercedes.

AFP photo

However, nobody walks calmly through the corridors of the factory in Brackley because since the end of 2019 Wolff, whose contract ends in December like Hamilton's, has frequently admitted that he is considering leaving his position, as he would not want to pass from be "very good to good" for staying longer than he should.

"I don't feel like this moment has happened yet, but in our team we look forward. We look at the senior leaders and the potential of the young people that are emerging. We don't want to create a bottleneck for talent to flourish and that is why with much anticipation we are already analyzing each position. It does

"he recently acknowledged in an interview with

, after the Russian GP.

Although he clarified that as "co-owner of the team with Mercedes" he will never give up, his challenge now is to "

."

"But you will see me for a while still in the pits. Mercedes already has someone in mind to replace me in the future, but obviously I cannot tell you," he remarked.

Even this year, in the midst of an unrenewed contract and as one of the biggest names in Formula 1, he was tempted by the

group

to occupy the position of head of the category since 2021. Ferrari's veto, however, he prevented the talks from progressing and determined that Stefano Domenicali, an old acquaintance in the

,

be elected

as the new CEO.

Wolff has already shown that he would like that position and shouldn't be ruled out when he makes the decision to finally jump ship from Mercedes.

Jack Wolff, his second chance at parenthood

View this post on Instagram

I did ask my parents to look for a black, red and white car ... 🙄

A post shared by Susie Wolff (@susie_wolff) on Aug 8, 2020 at 5:13 am PDT

Toto Wolff's success in Formula 1 came accompanied by a balanced family life, by his own admission.

In 2011 

, whom he had met at the German Touring Championship, and in 2017 Jack was born, the couple's first child and the third of the Mercedes crew chief, who already had Benedict and Rosa from her previous marriage.

"I think I am very lucky to have a three and a half year old son and to be living in Britain because I am doing with him what I could not do with my older children. Benedict has finished high school and is going to university and Rosa is about to go. And I feel very fortunate to continue to have a very strong bond with my older children; they call me when they have problems, we try to see each other frequently, but being

and it is very beautiful, "confessed Wolff in the aforementioned interview with Sky Sports F1.

With Jack, in short, he

.

"Simple things like taking my son to kindergarten, fetching him or spending weekends together I love. It's something I've discovered now and never done before, since I used to say goodbye in the morning and didn't come back until the night. Thanks to that my quality of life has increased and I love it, "he acknowledged.

Precisely, the strongman of the most important team in F1 stressed that "having a balanced relationship is the foundation of everything."

"I couldn't have done it without the support of Susie and the family. But I never thought of taking all the glory. It's always nice to get compliments but at the end of the day I'm as good as the team was. At the end of the day, there are 2,000 leaders in the team, all those involved in the project, "he added.

"My family life and my marriage are the milestones I want to achieve. At work you can say

but they are my expectations, not those of others, because out there everyone cares about themselves. So I don't care if a Wikipedia page in 10 years says it was great, that I won 5 championships and won five races or whatever if fundamentally no one cares. I don't think there is the legacy, "he justified.

His absence from the podium

That remembered podium of 2014 in Abu Dhabi, when Mercedes won the first of its seven consecutive titles, was the last for Toto Wolff.

He never again wanted to get on another, despite having multiple opportunities, mainly with Hamilton, the most winning driver in history.

But he had never explained why.

Until this year.

"Because I have so much visibility in the media anyway,

," he stated on the

podcast

.

"Everyone who contributes to the success of the team in the same way that I contribute should be seen above and should be recognized there. And I talk to the cameras every day on the track," he added.

In the team, however, they do not think the same and they made it known this season at the Nürburgring, where the Eifel GP was held, by date 11. "

. And although there's nothing I can do against that, let's see, "he added.

Why, then, was it in 2014?

"I got on the podium when Lewis won the first championship because it was our first championship. And I felt like 

acknowledged. "But I haven't been there since."

That mentality is the same one he shows when asked about the records.

"The reason I stay out of it is because I know they will be shaken some day in the future. And I will feel pleasure when I see it in my retirement chair on the screen that exists at that time," he admitted. "I enjoy the trip, the knowing that what we do is good and we want to be the best in the world, because I think that is everyone's goal. "

A future without Wolff and Hamilton is possible

“If one of us terminates it for whatever reason, the team will continue to perform.

We would miss the best driver, clearly, but if one of us, including me, decides to leave,

.

And I think we recognize it, although we want to be together, "said Wolff in the aforementioned note to the British network.

As revealed, its continuity is ensured by Daimler.

Before the weekend's race in Imola, the Austrian said: "I will stay with the team, and that is what we have agreed with Daimler. But maybe later in another role.

. Daimler has given me a lot of options. But before I transition into a new role, I need to make sure someone else is running all 23 races. And I can enjoy myself in front of a Zoom screen. "

While it seems likely that Wolff will continue, Hamilton maintains the mystery surrounding his future.

"I don't know if I'll be here next year," he said after winning the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday.

Throughout these shared years at Mercedes, as they both joined in the 2013 season, they built a friendship and there were multiple occasions when they praised each other.

"Lewis and I," Wolff said in 2019, "are on this journey together. We both joined the team at the end of 2012 and it is not always easy, we have had good times and we have had difficult times in which we have had to mobilize every inch that we had in us ".

"It all starts with Toto. He is at the top, everything is directed by him, his vision, his momentum has seeped into what we have today.

" argued the Englishman in an interview with Mercedes Benz Australia. last year.

Time will tell if he is right.

FK

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