Toto Wolff, Mercedes Formula 1 boss, shows his full commitment to the German F1 team. He recommitted to team for another three years at the same position with a new contract that absolve him from any performance clause.
Recently, Wolff broke the news in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. He revealed that his fellow shareholders agreed to keep him at the squad until at the end of 2026.
The parties involved in decision are Wolff – 33% shareholder, Jim Ratcliffe – INEOS owner and Pla Kallenius – Mercedes Benz CEO. Principally, all three stakeholders committed to keep the management positions stable to hunt for F1 dominance.
Wolff commented on situation: “I think the most important thing between the three of us is that we trust each other.
“At the end of the day, as a shareholder myself, I want the best return on investment. And the best return on investment is winning.
“I’m not going to try to hang on to a position that I think somebody is going to do better than me. I make sure that I have people around who can tell me otherwise. In the end the three of us decided: ‘Let’s do it again’.”
Mercedes had struggled for past three years where Red Bull dominated to 21 wins in 2023. The back to back failure at Mercedes to keep RB in check might have caused pressure at the former team.
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However, he insist that it was never the case. He says there had no performance clause in his contract with the team.
“I’ve never had a performance clause,” he said. “You either trust each other or you don’t. And we are aligned as shareholders.”
Wolff believes he would have not kept his place if team had easy victories. Rather, he likes to take challenges head on.
He added, “I’m part of this team in various functions. I’m a co-shareholder. I’m on the board. These are things which will not change whatever executive, or non-executive, role I have. But I feel good.
“The risk for me is always more bore-out than burnout. And that’s why I embrace the challenges we have today, even though they sometimes feel very, very difficult to manage.”
