Pep Guardiola is one of the greatest football managers of all time, having coached some legendary teams like FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City over the years. He once attended an event for Puma alongside Mercedes’ F1 team principal Toto Wolff and the two of them bonded over their style of management.
Whereas Guardiola has achieved everything there is to win in club football, Wolff has done the same with F1. He guided Mercedes to eight consecutive World Championship Titles between 2014 and 2021, overseeing a period of dominance unlike any other in the sport’s history. Wolff admitted that a lot of things he adopted in his managerial life are similar to that of Guardiola.
The two colossal sporting figures were invited to a Q&A session by Puma. Wolff revealed in the ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast that he will use a lot from their interaction and implement it in his management style as they head into the future.
“Yes, we were on stage in a Q&A, invited by Puma,” he said. “The two of us, we didn’t know each other. But when I heard him talking, it was like my sentences, the same approach. He said the same about me.”
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Toto Wolff talks about importance of human management in F1
Wolff has gone on to become one of the most successful and respected team bosses in F1 history. A crucial element that he feels helped him reach the top was good management. It’s the same ideology adopted by Guardiola, who won several major trophies across Europe as a player and manager. Wolff went on to say that he and Guardiola shared a very similar wavelength, and even their families seemed to get along well with each other.
“Fundamentally, it’s down to human management,” he said. “And he is someone that is certainly going to be part of my journey going forward. Because he was just on the same wavelength. Even the family was on the same wavelength between Susie and I, so an exciting personality.”
In 2022, Wolff had a very difficult season in charge of Mercedes. The Brackley-based outfit failed to cope with the regulation changes as well as Red Bull and Ferrari. As a result, they struggled behind them for the majority of the season and lost their status as the dominant team of F1. Wolff along with Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be hoping for a much better 2023 campaign.
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