Toto Wolff has always been a person who wants to be at the very top of whatever he is doing. His competitive nature and passion for winning as a team boss are extremely well-known amongst F1 fans. However, even during his time as a racer, Wolff wanted to lead the charts and indulged in a very dangerous stunt that almost got him killed in 2009, 4 years before he joined Mercedes. Now, as quoted by RacingNews 365, Wolff has revealed that he went ahead with his stunt even after receiving a warning from Niki Lauda.
The whole issue was a result of Wolff trying to beat the lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, a track nicknamed the ‘Green Hell’ because of how dangerous it is. However, Wolff was determined to etch his name into racing history by beating the then-existing record of 7:07 by Sabine Schmitz.
When attempting the record, Wolff managed to beat it during a test lap when he recorded a lap time of 7:03. However, that wasn’t enough and the Austrian wanted to get in a sub-seven minute lap, and that is where things went wrong.
During his fastest lap, Wolff’s Porsche 911 RSR suffered a right rear puncture while traveling at 189mph, shunting the car off into the crash barrier. Wolff suffered multiple concussions and vertebral injuries due to the 27G crash.
The warning that went unheard
14 years down the line, Wolff appeared on BBC’s Desert Island Discs, where he revealed that Niki Lauda warned him, to not go ahead with his lap record attempt. As reported by RacingNews 365, Wolff recalls Lauda telling him that going for the fastest lap at Nordschleife might be life threatening.
Today we commemorate the toughest man in #F1; after a horrible accident at #Nurburgring during the 1976 #GermanGP, the doctors gave him no chance of survival, and a priest administered last rites… 6 weeks later, #Niki_Lauda was back in his #Ferrari racing at @Autodromo_Monza 💪 pic.twitter.com/Wsj52tosDz
— automobilista ⛽️ (@aut0mob) February 22, 2023
Toto Wolff said, “Niki had a bad accident there where he almost died in the flames. He told me: ‘Don’t be stupid. Nobody cares about lap times on the Nordschleife. You can die. Look at me’.” However, Wolff didn’t listen to Lauda. He put himself in a very difficult situation, and was lucky to not suffer any life-threatening injuries.
Toto Wolff was lucky not to be another Niki Lauda
Lauda himself was involved in one of the most horrific crashes ever in the Nordschleife. During the 1976 German GP, Lauda lost control of his car on lap 2, which went on to hit the crash barrier and then burst into flames. Unfortunately, the Austrian driver was stuck inside the cockpit.
#OnThisDay in 1976 – Five weeks after his horrific accident at the Nurburgring, a heroic Niki Lauda was back in his cockpit to participate in the Italian Grand Prix despite horrific burns. #F1 pic.twitter.com/x4tDpFgFrl
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) September 12, 2018
Lauda suffered major burns on his face and slipped into a coma following the crash. His recovery from the accident is often hailed as one of the bravest comebacks in F1 history. In fact, he returned to racing action just four-weeks later in Monza.
Even though Wolff did not pay heed to Lauda’s warning, the current Mercedes team principal was extremely lucky that his crash was not as bad as Lauda’s.
