As Mercedes continues to go through a rocky phase, Toto Wolff was at the receiving end of good news as the Austrian recently became the latest member of the billionaires’ club. However, things were once very different for the 51-year-old as 29 years ago, Ayrton Senna’s death almost put an end to his affiliation with the world of motorsports.
1994 saw the world of F1 suffer the loss of one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport. Driving for Williams in Imola, Senna crashed into the Villeneuve corner and lost over 4 liters of blood on the spot. The tragic death sent shockwaves throughout the F1 realm, and Wolff got caught in the aftermath.
Senna’s death lead to Toto Wolff stepping away from racing
Wolff has always been a racing fan. Long before he became one of the most successful team principals in F1, the Austrian wanted to become a professional racing driver but couldn’t fulfill the dream. A major reason behind the story was Senna’s death, as Wolff revealed to BusinessF1 Magazine that his sponsor pulled out of the sport following the Brazilian driver’s death.
“When I was actually at the peak of my junior career, Ayrton Senna died. 2 days earlier, an Austrian driver called Roland Ratzenberger died. And then the following weekend, in the Monaco Grand Prix, another Austrian got very, very injured. And my sponsor, who in a way looked after all of us, said, ‘I can’t do that anymore.’ And that was the killer for me.”
When he last drove a car, Wolff broke the lap record on the Nurburgring in a Porsche RSR in 2009. He then turned to finance full-time, buying stakes in various F1 teams before becoming the most successful team principal in the history of the sport with Mercedes.
Toto Wolff’s switch to finance in 1998 led him to his Billionaire-status
In 1994, Wolff’s last big achievement came in the form of a class win at the 24 hours of Nurburgring. Three years later, Wolff hung up his gloves to take on a new avatar in the field of finance. In 1998, Wolff founded his first venture capital firm ‘Marchfifteen.’ Six years later, he founded his second firm and named it ‘Marchsixteen.’ Soon after, the Austrian found his way back into the world of motorsports.
In 2009, he joined the Board of Directors at Williams Racing after buying a stake in the team. Four years later, Wolff bought a 30% stake in Mercedes, and in 2014, he sold his Williams shares while taking up the team principal role in Mercedes. From here, Wolff would lead his team to a record eight consecutive constructor’s titles while also helping his drivers secure seven world titles. The spell became the most dominant performance in the history of the sport and looks like a record that will be hard to break.
