Toto Wolff says he has \u201cno plan\u201d to leave his team principal role in the wake of him selling part of his ownership.<\/p>\n
Wolff\u2019s sale of 15% of his 33.3% share<\/a> could have been seen in some quarters as the start of a possible exit strategy for the 53-year-old but he insists that is not the case.<\/p>\n Toto Wolff reveals motives behind Mercedes F1 sale<\/p>\n Wolff is unique on the grid in that, as he\u2019s not only team principal and CEO, he is also part owner having purchased 30% of the Mercedes F1 team in 2013.<\/p>\n In 2021, he upped his stake to 33.3% as INEOS purchased the same amount of shares but Wolff has now sold, a small stake in the holding company, which houses his ownership stake in Mercedes, to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz for a reported $300m. It gives Kurtz a 5% stake in the F1 team.<\/p>\n That sale raised questions over whether Wolff, the longest serving team principal on the grid following Christian Horner\u2019s departure, would be stepping away or selling more but he insists that is not in his plans.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no plan to sell the team and no plan to leave my role,\u201d he said after the Las Vegas GP. \u201cI\u2019m actually in a good space, and I\u2019m enjoying it, and as long as I feel I\u2019m contributing, and others feel that I\u2019m contributing, there\u2019s no reason to think in that direction.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I did is we \u2013 in my investment holding \u2013 I sold some shares to George, who is a racer, who is a tech entrepreneur, someone that is going to help us leverage the US market. That was the reason behind it, and nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolff\u2019s sale values the team around $6bn, a remarkable rise from a decade ago and a sign of how much both Mercedes and F1 in general has grown.<\/p>\n More on Mercedes from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0George Russell queries \u2018not fair assessment\u2019 after Sky F1 question<\/a> Asked about that rise, Wolff said the cost cap has been crucial to making teams profitable.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone would have told us five years ago what valuations would be, we would have never believed it,\u201d Wolff said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s a simple extrapolation of the profitability of the teams because of the cost cap. Our business case changed fundamentally. Rather than outspending each other with no matter what, we protected us from ourselves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to increase the revenues and increase the free cash flows and that put on the multiples that the industry has, led us to these valuations.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the sport\u2019s future, Wolff said there was no reason to suggest it cannot continue to grow and pointed to the NFL as an example of an already popular product only getting bigger.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at the US American teams. The Dallas Cowboys five years ago, were $3 billion. Today, they are 12 because of the underlying figures that have changed. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t know where the future leads us.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we continue to try to understand what makes the sport enjoyable and entertaining and putting up a great show, then there is no reason that the sport can continue to grow as it is.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the most important [thing] is we need to look after our sport in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Andrea Kimi Antonelli has a perception problem<\/a>
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Valtteri Bottas gains valuable F1 mileage ahead of Cadillac return<\/a><\/p>\n