Family life trumps F1 success for Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff

Mercedes

Family life trumps F1 success for Wolff

Wolff says family milestones are the most important to him

Ewan Gale

Saturday 3 October 2020 13:09

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has claimed that all the success he has so far achieved in Formula 1 pales into comparison when it comes to what he has learned to value above anything else - his family.

Speculation over Wolff's future at the world champions has heightened in recent times, with talk now pointing in the direction of him scaling back on his role of team principal.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the Austrian was asked what he wanted people to think of with regard to his legacy, to which he responded: "Who cares!"

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"I care about meeting and achieving my own expectations," he explained. "What do I want to achieve from my life? I personally think that family life and my marriage are the most important milestones that I have achieved.

"Then in terms of the job, you can say 'Okay, this is the success I want to have, this is the money I want to earn,' but that's my expectation, it is not anyone else's expectation because everyone out there, if we are honest, cares about themselves.

"I don't care, on a bigger page, if in 10 years people say 'Well, he won five championships and he won five races or whatever,' because fundamentally, nobody cares.

"It's just I care and I care about being happy and having a good life and obviously, the objectives also change, but I don't think outside of us anyone is happy for you, everyone just lives their life so I think legacy, I don't think that exists."

Wolff, who has overseen Mercedes' incredible domination in the sport during the V6 turbo-hybrid era, also described his pride at being able to spend increasingly more time with his son Jack, another indicator as to where his priorities may lie.

"I am very lucky that I have a three-and-a-half-year-old now and we are living in the UK," he said.

"I am doing things I wasn't able to do with my elder children. I have a fantastic relationship with them and they want to finish school and go to university and the other one is almost there.

"But simple things, just taking Jack to nursery, picking him up or spending the weekends together, this is something I have discovered now for me which I haven't done before.

"I was leaving in the mornings, saying bye-bye and coming back late at night. It has really increased my life quality and I love it."

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