Toto Wolff clarifies Mercedes future plans after selling F1 stake

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has clarified his plans to remain at the F1 team after selling part of his stake in the Silverstone squad.

Last week, reports emerged that Wolff was in talks to part with a small slice of his stake in the constructor, with a Mercedes spokesperson telling GPFans: “We will be making no comment on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners (Mercedes-Benz, Toto and INEOS) are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula 1.”

Just a few days later however, the Austrian executive offloaded 15 per cent of his investment holding – equivalent to 5 per cent of the entire team – to George Kurtz, the CEO of CrowdStrike.

The deal has now been completed and Kurtz has been named as a Technology Advisor for the German outfit as a result, meaning he will now also have a role in the F1 team.

This sale of Wolff's stake in the team will not impact his position at Mercedes, with the 53-year-old still holding a significant share, with INEOS, Mercedes-Benz, and Wolff remaining the major stakeholders.

Wolff reaffirms commitment to Mercedes F1 team

Speculation about Wolff’s future with the team intensified following the sale.

However, after last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix, the team principal and CEO made it clear that he has no plans to step down or sell the team, and will therefore continue at the helm of Mercedes.

Clarifying his future plans to the media, Wolff said: "I have no plan to sell the team or no plan to leave my role.

"I'm actually in a good space and I'm enjoying it. And as long as I feel I'm contributing and others feel that I'm contributing, there's no reason to think in that direction."

The Mercedes boss also explained that his decision to sell part of his stake in the team purely came from a business standpoint.

"What I did is in my investment holding, I sold some shares to George, who is a racer, who is a tech entrepreneur, who is someone that is going to help us leverage the US market," he added.

"That was the reason behind it, but nothing else."

Wolff's partial stake sale valued Mercedes F1 team at a record £4.6billion.

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