Toto Wolff admits 2020 retirement plan but vows to stay on

Toto Wolff has confessed he was close to leaving Formula 1 at the end of 2020, but says he will not step aside until Mercedes returns to winning form.

The 53-year-old told Motorsport-Total.com that his intention had been to step back from day-to-day management once he turned 50.

“I really wanted to retire in 2020,” Wolff acknowledged. “My original plan was that I wouldn’t mess around with racing cars anymore when I was 50, because that’s when you’re an adult.”

At that point, his team principal contract was due to run out, and speculation linked him with a non-executive role on Mercedes’ supervisory board.

Instead, he decided to stay on as boss while also becoming a one-third co-owner of the Brackley outfit, now valued in the billions.

“At some point, I said to myself, okay, this is my niche, I’m going to continue doing it and I’m going to forget everything I did before, because I also enjoyed venture capital. I made that decision for myself in 2020, he explained.

Although still running the team, Wolff has handed off some responsibilities. Communications chief Bradley Lord now acts as his deputy and fills in whenever Wolff misses a race weekend.

“He takes a lot of the burden off my shoulders,” Wolff said. “But I think I’ll stay team principal. Because it’s basically my team. Anything else would be kind of weird.”

Looking ahead, Wolff says his exit will not come until Mercedes is back at the sharp end. “At least until the team starts winning again, I still see myself as the executive team boss,” he confirmed.