Toto Wolff has explained his decision to stay on as Mercedes boss, stating that no-one within the team was yet ready to “take the baton”.
During last year, with his contract up for renewal, the Austrian had been offering hints at, at least, altering his role within the Brackley-based outfit after seven years in charge.
Instead, last month, it was confirmed Wolff would stay in place for three more years, as he, Daimler and Ineos took a three-way equal shareholding.
“For me, this year was very important,” he was quoted by GPFans, referring to 2020. “The first half of the year, with not going to the overseas races, allowed me to reflect a lot on the future.
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“I never envisaged leaving the team from a shareholding point of view, but I’d always said that as a team principal you have a certain shelf life, you need to contribute.
“If that was ever the case, that I felt there was someone who could do a better job, then I would hand the baton over. This is not yet the case.”
Wolff then explained the biggest reason why he felt he was still the best man to lead Mercedes was the number of roles he has, including overseeing the German manufacturer’s motorsport activities more broadly.
“You need to cover the racing side as well as the commercial and political side and that’s why we’ve agreed I’m staying on in the role I enjoy, in being team principal,” he added.
“But for the future of the team, and the sustainability and growth of the team, from my perspective it is about looking into the future, who eventually could take over from me as team principal one day, and then me transitioning into a more corporate role as a chief executive officer or executive chairman.
“When that will happen I don’t know. But [Sir] Jim [Ratcliffe, INEOS chairman] Ola and I are in agreement that it’s my duty to define who could do this role in the future.
“It’s actually a total alignment of interests between the three of us. We wouldn’t want to have someone running the team that is not efficient and successful.”