Wolff may "spontaneously" decide to hand over Mercedes baton

Toto Wolff has conceded a decision to step away from the team principal role at Mercedes may be 'spontaneous'.

Austrian Wolff did however insist that the time to step away would not come anytime soon.

Mercedes has won every championship available since the introduction of turbo-hybrid powertrains in 2014 with Wolff at the helm for each success but there was serious consideration last year as to whether he would continue in his role this season and beyond.

Wolff eventually committed to the team and also increased his shareholding stake to an equal third with Daimler and INEOS.

"I reflected for a year if I wanted to continue in this sport, and I took the decision, yes," Wolff told GPFans Global.

"But the decision was not that am I willing to continue to lead this team from an operational standpoint but it was more, do I want to stay involved as a shareholder.

"This means the team becomes me and I become the team long-term and this is the decision I took.

"We are three equal shareholders, we complement each other, and whatever I do in the team I'm staying in my role as a co-owner.

"As long as I enjoy the competition and honesty of the stopwatch, I will continue.

"But I may decide spontaneously that somebody else can carry the baton better, be quicker, more agile, refreshed than me, but not yet."

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