Breaking news
Formula 1
Wolff: Talks over becoming F1 boss "never went anywhere"
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says initial talks over potentially running Formula 1 “never went anywhere”, but doubts Ferrari would have allowed him to head up the series.
Luke Smith
Edited: Sep 26, 2020, 8:16 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Liberty Media announced on Friday that ex-Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali would become the new CEO and president of F1 from January, taking over from Chase Carey.
Carey will become a non-executive director of F1 after almost four years in charge, having taken over from Bernie Ecclestone as CEO in January 2017.
Mercedes F1 boss Wolff was regularly linked with a move to Liberty in recent years as part of the future leadership plan following Carey’s exit.
Asked if he ever put his hat into the ring for the job at the top of F1, Wolff said that he did not, and that early talks with Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei did not go very far.
“No, I didn’t,” Wolff said. “I think everybody knows that there were some initial discussions with Greg, and it never went anywhere.
“We get on well. I respect Greg Maffei a lot for what he has achieved.
“But I love where I am, and I found out that I love the stopwatch so much, the competition and the racing, that where I am today, co-owner of the team with Mercedes, I have to pinch myself every single day.
“At the end, it wouldn’t have gone anywhere anyway, because Ferrari wouldn’t have accepted that.”
Read Also:
- Team bosses back “good guy” Domenicali for F1 CEO role
- Why F1 teams shouldn’t fear another ex-Ferrari boss in charge
Wolff’s links to the job running F1 led to concerns being raised by rivals, including Ferrari, whose CEO Louis Camilleri said in December that any key team personnel taking up a role with the championship would “automatically create conflicts of interest, perceived or otherwise”.
The concerns prompted an agreement that no-one could be appointed by the series if they had worked for a team in the past two years.
Wolff said that he knew Ferrari would never have accepted him taking over at F1, but understood its position and thinking.
“That’s OK, they have this right,” Wolff said. “I respect it, absolutely. I would probably have had the same thoughts. At the end, maybe a different decision, because you’ve got to have the best guy to run the sport.
“But I think they have the best guy today. Stefano is just the real deal.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Russian GP: Latest key F1 technical developments
Next article Racing Point “surprised” by Perez criticism
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Luke Smith
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
Formula 1
Formula 1
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Formula 1
Formula 1
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Latest news
Why MotoGP didn’t move Australian GP to Saturday despite bad weather forecast
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
14 min
Why MotoGP didn’t move Australian GP to Saturday despite bad weather forecast
Winner and losers from MotoGP’s cancelled Australian GP weekend
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
40 min
Winner and losers from MotoGP’s cancelled Australian GP weekend
Inside COTA's Turn 1 clubhouse and its plans to build a second track
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
58 min
Inside COTA's Turn 1 clubhouse and its plans to build a second track
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe