Toto Wolff was grilled by the British media today after the announcement of his appointment at the head of Mercedes Motorsport.
“It has happened pretty quickly,” he said. “I have been involved with Mercedes for many years and I have known the people concerned for quite some time, but this happened a couple of weeks ago. It started with a conversation about Mercedes’s situation in F1.”
Wolff said that he was “carefully optimistic” that the team would do better in 2013 than it has done in recent seasons, but admitted that he had not yet been to Brackley, nor talked to the driver.
“I cannot really talk about structure,” he said. “I need a bit of time to understand the structure there. At this stage it would be foolish to talk about replacing anyone.”
There has been speculation that the team is after McLaren’s technical chief Paddy Lowe and the suggestion is that he might replace Ross Brawn.
“I read it in the paper,” said Wolff. “There is a lot of speculation, but there is nothing that I can tell you.”
Wolff explained the team structure, saying that Niki Lauda will be the non-executive chairman, while the executive positions will be held by him and Ross Brawn. The future of Nick Fry as the Chief Executive Officer of the team has also been called into question.
“Nick has been handling commercial affairs and we are looking at that situation,” said Wolff.
Toto confirmed that he and Nick Lauda have acquired shares in the team, but spoke of Mercedes’s commitment to F1 in the long-term. Wolff said that there are no silent partners in his shareholding (as there have been in other deals).
“I’m afraid I am alone,” he said.
He also said that he was dropping all of his other activities in order to concentrate on the new job and said that he will be spending more time in the UK as a result.
“Daimler one of best brands in the world, “ he said. “They build fantastic cars and they came into F1 to be successful. The board expects the team to be at the top and this is what we will be workjng on.”
More cynical voices in the F1 world have suggested that this may end up being the start of the end for Mercedes as a Formula 1 team owner, unless the team does make a breakthrough. Selling equity to racing people will make it easier for the company to slide out of team ownership and return to being just an engine manufacturer if there is not success.
On other matters, Wolff confirmed that Mercedes is testing Robert Kubica in a DTM car this week to see how he does, but said that Robert is still not 100 percent fit yet and is unlikely to appear in an F1 car at any point in the near future.
“Let’s see how it goes,” he said. “I think there are some physical constraints for him in a monocoque chassis, we would all love to see him back in an F1 car, but it is definitely too early.”
Wolff said that there are no plans for Mercedes to take on Timo Glock, but believes that the German driver could appear in one of the rival DTM teams.”
joeblogsf1 
A few typos, paragraph 9:
“Toto confirmed that and Nick Lauda have acquired shares in the team”
Haven’t you got anything better to do?
He could always stand by the railway track, jotting down carriage numbers as they whiz by….
What did Wolff say about Brawn? BBC via Eddie Jordan suggesting he’s going to be shown the door…
Isn’t Eddie Jordan sailing his yacht around the Caribbean at the moment? – If so he’s not exactly close to the story….
Eddie has a pretty good track record with Merc… And what’s unusual about this is that it’s not an Eddie Jordan solo run – apparently both Benson and Jordan heard this independently from two different sources. Which leads to two questions if it’s not true – who’s given them the story, and why?
The stories come out of Germany, although in Jordan’s case the source is often Bernie. It is true that Lowe has agreed a deal to join Williams, but when Wolff decided to move to Merc he appears to have tried to take Lowe with him. The key point is whether Lowe wants to go; whether the Williams deal us still on; or whether McLaren will convince him to stay.
“he might replace Ross Brawn” – the BBC is reporting this too. They are saying Paddy Lowe moves from McLaren as well. What’s your thoughts on this…. where does Brawn go from here?
Pigs might fly as well, but until we see that happening we don’t report it as being true.
Apparently the BBC do. I guess this really is the story where we find out definitively whether Andrew Benson is actually worth something as a newshound…
It’ll take more than this to be true to convince me that he is given the crap he’s churned out in the past year…
Let’s hope Hamilton tweets another classic before someone has the chance to create his opinion.
BBC are reporting that Ross Brawn might be replaced:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21143847
Whats this i hear about Ross moving on. Rather than listening to rubbish what do you know. And will Paddy leave and if so for Williams or Mercedes. Personally I know where I would rather he was out of a solid independent british outfit or a team with more technical directors than I have pounds in my account
Not quite sure why he’s able the keep his holdings with Williams and buy an equity position with the Mercedes team. Over here in NA that’d be construed as a pretty significant conflict of interest.
That said, Europe does seem to do things a bit differently than us so maybe there’s less of a concern about that.
Guess we’ll have to see how it all falls out going forward.
Kubica to come back and partner Hamilton for 2015?
I know it’s just a dream, but what a dream it is….
Let’s hope “Iron will” has similar timing to his recent rallying efforts.
sounds like the last days of jaguar.
Oh so true………..
How true …
Do you believe he is acting alone in both Williams and Merc shareholding? I mean based on what Mercedes paid for 75% (about $150m) of brawn, Toto must have paid at least $50m for 30% and you and I know he has not got that kind of money. Could it be this is designed to ensure Mercedes do not leave F1 all together, at least not now (which would be a total disaster for powers that be)?
Why would they get rid of Ross when he has a history and track record of success. Toto has experience but has had a 12 year lull until Pastor won a fluke win. This doesnt make sense do you think as he bought his way into williams we are seeing our first Pay To Play Team Principle. Merc must be crazy as this is a very difficult role and should be left with someone that has had experience of winning.
So… Brawn to Woking and Lowe to Brackley in a straight swop? (Perhaps they’ll wave to each other as they pass on the M40…) Or do McLaren go after the biggest fish of all and try to get Adrian Newey back?
A lot going on at Merc, with the egos of F1 bosses I’m sure feathers will be ruffled!
I can see Fry being stepped aside, but surely not Brawn?? That seems like technical suicide unless they know something we don’t? Toto’s tone (as read) doesn’t sound like a resounding endorsement of Brawn.
Joe, being that Brawn and Fry were shareholds in the team, would they not have had a vote with regards Laudas and Wolfs investment?
No
Depends on the shareholders agreement
A smart man is putting his own money into two midfield F1 teams whose present prospects for success look uncertain to say the least. To me that’s baffling, but what do I know…..
There is an old adage – Too many cooks spoil the broth. Nothing more to say.
“…nor talked to the driver”
Is the missing ‘s’ a typo, or Toto’s assessment of Rosberg?
Ok, educate me why do news organizations post “rumours” without confirming?
Because they often know them to be true but cannot prove them.
Joe – can you add any insight as to what Toto has brought to Williams? Apart from purchasing a shareholding, its hard to see how he has added value and as to why Mercedes would see him as the answer to the team’s problems.
Perhaps under the nice guy persona, he is just good at selling himself to others higher up?
The idea of a flotation probably came from him. This is his modus operandi.
So his job is to prepare Brackley for flotation?
I wonder how much more it’ll be worth than Enstone when they both come to market.
Hi Joe
I am at a complete loss to understand what Mercedes are hoping to achieve. Toto has supposedly bought 30% of them but why if he is such a good business man would he start his reign creating so many ripples even before he has his feet under the table. All this speculation surely cannot sit well with the ultra conservative Mercedes board? I appreciate that they want results as do all teams, buit creating a media speculation and potentially ending up losing all the experience men on the ground does not seem to me a very sensible direction to take.
At the end of the day there are two main areas for having a winning team, the car and the driver. The rest, with all due respect to all administrators, team principals etc. are just part of the team and need to do their jobs properly. Bringing in Niki Lauda, Toto Wolff, or even Paddy Lowe none of them are going to win races, perhaps smooth areas that aren’t working smoothly, certainly.
Taking on Lewis was certainly a major step in the right direction but what is he going to make of his first press conference when he finds people he thought he would be working with no longer with the company. The all the questions asking about who will remain? I think it a recipe for disaster.
Or do you think this is Bernie starting a rumour to change things to how he would like it?
Best wishes
Chris
Understood from your background posts. However, he must have been different to the procession of previous bankers in suits in that me has been able to convince Patrick and Sir Frank that it was a good idea. Perhaps the timing of Patrick’s desire for an exit made it possible. The curious thing to me is that Toto is able to gain the confidence of senior people, first at Williams and now at Mercedes, over the existing management or arguably know far more about running an F1 team. To me this must be his greatest strength as he surely can’t be adding anything to the garage operation, other than his company car.
“I read it in the paper,” said Wolff. “There is a lot of speculation, but there is nothing that I can tell you.”
—-
Joe, given that you know the man far better than any of us do, and heard his tone of voice, what’s your view?
To my eyes, the transcript reads as potentially any one of these :
1) A lazy but honest denial/admission that he may not yet be completely in the loop,
2) A shrewd businessman trying to avoid closing doors or being accused of lying while events are still running their course,
3) A very calculated statement which is entirely true and yet designed to mislead.
2 and 3
It’s a “non-denial denial”. He didn’t say it wasn’t happening, he just said that he can’t tell you.
Pretty much.
But if the head of the CIA says “There’s nothing I can tell you about CIA operations in Afghanistan” it means one thing and if he says “there’s nothing I can tell you about CIA operations in Scunthorpe” it probably means another.
How would you or I there aren’t CIA ops in Scunthorpe?
(apologies if you’re a CIA officer or one of The Mole’s Colleagues)
Sorr that should read “How would you or I know there aren’t CIA ops in Scunthorpe?”
And it should have finished with a 🙂
Thank you.
Wolff is no beginner, and wouldn’t have put his money and career on the line on a whim, plus he has connections with Daimler/Mercedes that might not be obvious to outsiders.
Ross Brawn is possibly at his ‘sell-by date’ now, but I’d like to think he still has some input to give to F1 in some form or other. The Board at Daimler are looking at 3 years of expenditure against one race win, that doesn’t make very nice reading on the balance sheet.
As has been said before, there are no friends in business, and that goes in spades for BIG business.
Joe do you reckon the *rumoured* Paddy Lowe move could be a case of Lewis bringing in his own people, a la Brawn following Schumacher to Ferrari?
Was thinking that yesterday, though why did this not happen before now? Surely it’s not ideal 2-3 weeks before the new car is launched. And Lowe would spend most of the season on ‘gardening leave’.
Think of it in the context of a clear strategy to build up for 2014 and it doesn’t look as foolish. Get the reshuffle done now, hope to steal a few results in 2013 while accepting that a title push isn’t an option and aim for Hamilton to bring home the goods with the new engine regs to back him up.
surely if anyone is to go, it should be nick fry… ever since he was brought to my attention through the earth dreams fiasco of honda and appaling handling of super aguri, i’ve struggled to understand the point of him
Well, he must be good at something, given that he has been running the team since 2002.
Yes, Joe i agree he must be good at something. That something is the same as Toto. Somehow they manage to keep hold of their jobs even without any actual results in the last 5-10 years to show. All the top team would have moved them on by now if they had the same results as them wouldn’t they?
I’m waiting for a post from John(Other John) about the characters in business that are very good at gaining the confidence of others in order to either preserve their jobs or advance them. A certain figure formerly based at Hethel springs to mind. Whilst Toto seems like a charming bloke, I’m a tad cautious about what different he will bring to Mercedes.
Wasn’t the Brawn supposed to be based on a Super Aguri that never ran? I’d say Fry handled that rather well if so…
And I can just imagine the conversation that Niki will have with Ross Brawn. “Ross, you’ve won drivers and constructors title with three different teams, rebuilt Ferrari, built Benetton up from almost nothing, and won both championships with an eponymous team….but what have you done lately?”
Some nice answers from him constructed by Bradley Lord…
I don’t think that is the case.
What has Lewis got himself into!?!?!