16/01/2024
NEWS STORY
Toto Wolff has agreed a new three-year deal with Mercedes which keeps him at the Brackley-based outfit until the end of 2026.
Wolff, who owns a 33% stake in the German team agreed the new contract with fellow owners Jim Ratcliffe of INEOS and Ola Kallenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz.
"I think the most important thing between the three of us is that we trust each other," the Austrian who joined Mercedes from Williams, where he also owned a stake, in early 2013, told the Daily Telegraph.
"At the end of the day, as a shareholder myself, I want the best return on investment. And the best return on investment is winning," he added, his team having endured a 2023 season in which it failed to record a single win for the first time since 2011.
"I'm not going to try to hang on to a position that I think somebody is going to do better than me," he insisted. "I make sure that I have people around who can tell me otherwise. In the end, the three of us decided: 'Let's do it again'."
The Austrian recently took responsibility for the disastrous decision to proceed in 2023 with the infamous concept that seriously compromised the team the previous season.
However, he insists that despite the team's poor record over the last two years his new contract contained no performance clauses.
"I've never had a performance clause," he said. "You either trust each other or you don't. And we are aligned as shareholders.
"I'm part of this team in various functions," he continued. "I'm a co-shareholder. I'm on the board. These are things which will not change whatever executive, or non-executive, role I have. But I feel good.
"The risk for me is always more bore-out than burnout. And that's why I embrace the challenges we have today, even though they sometimes feel very, very difficult to manage."