Wolff reveals what it would take to step down as Mercedes F1 boss

Toto Wolff revealed he would “vacate the spot immediately” as Mercedes Formula 1 boss should the ideal successor arise. 

Wolff has run the Silver Arrows since 2013, during which time he has led Mercedes to a record-breaking eight consecutive constructors’ titles, plus seven drivers’ crowns.

But the introduction of ground-effect cars in 2022 brought tougher times for Mercedes, which has won just six grands prix since its last championship in 2021. This performance drop has not cost Wolff his job though, unlike that of former rival Christian Horner who was sacked after Red Bull’s dominance of the ground-effect era ended. 

Wolff is different to Horner, however, because he is a part-owner of the Mercedes team and he cited McLaren’s model with CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella as a possible solution. 

“I’m in a, maybe, little bit more favourite position that in order to leave I have to fire myself,” said Wolff, who is both the CEO and team principal of Mercedes.

“And in agreement with the other shareholders, if I’m not the team principal anymore I can decide to be the CEO or the chairman executive or non-executive chairman.

“If I feel that I have someone else who can contribute more than I do, I would vacate the spot immediately – or I would maybe only go on the commercial side or only on the racing team side.

“We’ve become so vast as an organisation and you can see the system functions with McLaren, you have Zak who’s doing all of the commercial stuff, he’s doing events all around the world, which he wouldn’t be able [to] if he was in my position, and then you have Andrea who runs the sporting side – so maybe that’s the future.

“I would, in the long term, identify these people that can do that, so if I wake up one day and I thought there’s someone who can do it better then I would immediately do this. No doubt about that. 

“Am I the guy [I was] in 2014? Certainly not, but I’m trying to compensate. I was an assassin when I came here – I’ve become a bit softer and that’s not good in the sport, so I need to compensate with intelligence or whatever!”

Wolff is the longest-serving boss on the F1 grid, as recent years have seen squads chop and change their team principals in the same way a football club would churn through managers.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Andrea Stella, McLaren, Zak Brown, McLaren

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Images via Getty Images

This goes against the historic traditions of F1, where part-owners would also hold the role of team principal – like Colin Chapman at Lotus, Ron Dennis at McLaren or Frank Williams at Williams. 

June this year saw Fred Vasseur, close friend of Wolff, come under scrutiny from Italian media following Ferrari’s disappointing start to 2025 as it was expected to mount a title challenge. 

Vasseur launched a staunch fightback at the Canadian Grand Prix, before he eventually renewed his Ferrari contract and Wolff said he experienced something similar during his early days at Mercedes – albeit on a smaller scale. 

“At the beginning of my career there was lots of times where I heard ‘Is Toto still the right guy?’” said Wolff, who from 2014 to 2016 managed a fierce rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as the Mercedes pair consistently battled for the title. 

“It oscillated that way from ‘the team is the greatest and I’m a genius’ to the following weekend I’ve lost the authority and my hand on Lewis and Nico is completely escalated and I’m the wrong person for this job. 

“I think that multiply this by a hundred and then you’re in Italy. And you read the Gazetta. And I said to Fred ‘don’t read the Gazetta and don’t look at the websites,’ because that is just… you know in which country they do parody and comedy on a team principal?

“Fred was really upset about it and I thought it’s great.”