Mercedes boss Toto Wolff took the Silver Arrows to new heights in recent years, but his journey to the summit has been far from easy.
Kiwi YouTuber Josh Revell recently posted a video highlighting the life and struggles of Wolff. In it, he spoke about the Austrian’s early racing career, his business savvy mind, and his thirst to strive for things he wants to achieve.
Wolff was born in Vienna in 1972 and lost his father at a very early age. He wasn’t used to wealth as a child but his smart business mind led to him making money off innovative ventures.
Toto Wolff fell in love with racing as a 17-year old when he went to the Nürburgring to watch his friend compete. The aura of a being in a paddock stuck in his head, and he started his journey towards pursuing a racing career.
Under the guidance of Walter Lechner, Wolff started his racing career and climbed up the ranks to make it up to Formula 4. Soon, Lechner and sponsors cut Wolff off, leaving him without any funds. According to the former, Wolff was a ‘decent driver’, but would make bigger strides in the entrepreneurial world.
It put a temporary end to his racing career, as he left the sport to pursue things that would make him money.
Toto Wolff and his various business pursuits that made him billions of dollars
Today we all know Wolff as Team Principal of the Mercedes F1 team. However in 1998, the Austrian left his country to go and work in a bank in Warsaw.
Thereafter, he started his own investment companies, known as ‘Marchfifteen’ and ‘Marchsixteen’ respectively. (Didn’t put a lot of effort into naming them!)
Wolff also spent time investing in small companies all over the world that would go on to generate millions of dollars. As of 2021, the Mercedes boss has a net worth of over $1.25 billion.
In 2001, he re-found his love for racing and competed in various categories like GT and Porsche. Wolff’s racing career never really took off, but he showed some promise in his early days winning the Nürburgring 24h, in Formula Ford.
His driving never took him to F1, but his extraordinary business mindset did. In 2009, the Vienna born man found his way into the F1 paddock for the first time ever.
Toto Wolff’s Formula 1 journey and how it changed the sport forever
Williams F1 team was going through extreme financial difficulties in 2009. Sir Frank Williams was looking for help, and Wolff swept in to become a minority shareholder in the British team.
He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming executive director of the team in 2012. He oversaw the victory of Pastor Maldonado in Spain in 2012, which remains the last time Williams’ won an F1 race.
Wolff then joined Mercedes in 2013 as Executive Director and his work with the German team changed F1 forever. His first job was to convince Lewis Hamilton to join the Brackley based outfit.
Today, joining Mercedes is seen as the biggest step up for an F1 driver. But in 2013, they didn’t have the package to attract promising talents. Hamilton did end up in the team, and the rest is history.
Between 2014 and 2021, Mercedes won all the Constructors’ Championships, establishing an era of dominance that remains unmatched. Between 2014 and 2020, all the Drivers’ Titles were won by Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton winning 6 and Nico Rosberg taking home the 2016 crown.
Hamilton was on course for his 8th World Title and 7th with the Silver Arrows in 2021. He lost out on it on the final lap of the season finale, to Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
