Why stepping down is still not on the cards for Toto Wolff

Even following Kimi Antonelli’s World Championship triumph, Toto Wolff intends to remain Mercedes team principal – though the Austrian has already handed over some of his responsibilities

Kimi Antonelli’s World Championship title is also a personal triumph for Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. Although there were repeated doubts about the decision to put the Italian in the Mercedes cockpit at the age of just 18, Wolff stood by him – and was rewarded for it.

Given that Wolff has already achieved everything there is to achieve in Formula 1 and has now, for the first time, guided a driver from his own junior programme – Antonelli – to the world championship, he could, in theory, step down as Mercedes team principal at the height of his success. Yet the 54-year-old has no such plans whatsoever.

“I have no intention of stopping,” Wolff makes clear, but also reveals: “I think about it every day and ask myself: Am I contributing to the team’s development – for better or for worse? That’s the first question I ask myself.”

“And if I feel that things aren’t going so well, or that there’s someone who could do it better, I’d be the first to say: I’ll step aside. I’ll become chairman of the board and tell everyone how they can do their jobs better.”

“The second question is: Do I enjoy my work?”, says Wolff. And because that is still the case, he currently has no interest in stepping back from day-to-day operations. “We can all count ourselves truly lucky to be able to do what we do,” he emphasises.

Nevertheless, he admits to having “the feeling that my job might look quite different in the future”. This is because the traditional team principals in Formula 1 are now “dinosaurs”, and he feels like one of them himself, the Austrian reveals.

Wolff has already handed over some responsibilities

In fact, Wolff is by far the longest-serving team principal in the current Formula 1 field. He has been at the helm at Mercedes since 2013. By way of comparison: second on this list is Andrea Stella, who was promoted to team principal at McLaren in 2022 – nine years after Wolff.

“The structures were different,” says Wolff of the era of the “traditional” team principals, explaining: “One man represented the team, handled the key financial matters with the sponsors, was involved in race operations and maintained political relations with the FIA, FOM and the other teams.”

“I am firmly convinced that, in a few years’ time, the future of this team will lie in a division of responsibilities. But I’m not worrying about that at the moment. I want to continue in my role and am receiving excellent support in doing so,” said Wolff.

Changes are already noticeable at Mercedes too. Whilst Wolff remains the “strong man” at the Silver Arrows, Bradley Lord has for some time now been acting as deputy team principal, “who takes so many things off my hands that used to annoy me or were a lot of work”, explains Wolff.

“He’s much harder-working than I am and well organised. And he’s even found someone who does his job better than he does himself and definitely has a better character,” he says with a wink about his deputy.

So whilst Toto Wolff’s responsibilities are also changing and he has already handed over some of them, he intends to continue in his role as team principal for a few more years – and to win further Formula 1 titles in the process.