Toto Wolff opens up on potential retirement

Wolff op de Red Bull Ring — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 Speculation

Wolff opens up on potential retirement

The Austrian has been rumoured to be near the end of his tenure at Mercedes

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 23 December 2023 08:27

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said that he's 'not going anywhere', with the pressure mounting on the team to get back to winning ways in 2024.

The Austrian has held his role since 2013, and experienced a stellar run of success between 2014-2021, winning eight consecutive constructors' world championships.

However, the last two seasons have been poor by Mercedes' high standards, with an underperforming car limiting them to just one race win across both 2022 and 2023.

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Star driver Lewis Hamilton has not won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and the seven-time world champion reportedly spoke with both Red Bull and Ferrari before signing a new contract with Mercedes.

Toto Wolff and his team won eight consecutive constructors' world titles between 2014-2021

Toto Wolff shares a good working relationship with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton

Both Lewis Hamilton and team-mate George Russell signed a new deal to stay as team-mates until the end of the 2025 season at least

Wolff defiant on position in team

The capture of both Hamilton and Russell's signatures until at least the end of 2025 has put extra pressure on the Brackley-based team to produce race-winning cars once more, and try to catch the dominant Red Bull team.

Now, Wolff has said that he is the man to take the team back to the top of the sport, despite reports that his tenure may be nearing a natural conclusion.

“I’m an owner of the team,” he told PlanetF1.com

“So I look at it with the perspective of 20 years, the next 20 years. I would like to be fighting for championships. Whenever I feel the moment is time that we change the leadership, I wouldn’t mind whether it’s good or bad.

“I think I’m doing this together with many other people. This is, for me, not like a coach or manager or trainer in saying, ‘I want to go out on a high and leave a legacy’.

“This is my thinking, I’m not going anywhere. I hope that we’re winning many, many more, but I don’t feel any entitlement.”