Wolff critical of ‘lunatic’ behind ‘nonsense’ exit rumour

Mark Scott
Toto Wolff Mercedes

Toto Wolff backs decision to cancel standard gearboxes

Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff, has said “some lunatic on an internet page” was behind the “nonsense” rumour of crunch talks taking place at Daimler.

At the end of January, RaceFans.Net and Autocar revealed that the higher ups at Daimler were meeting on February 12 to discuss Mercedes’ future in Formula 1 beyond the end of the 2020 season with a suggestion that they were prepared to leave the sport.

Daimler quickly rubbished that claim and Wolff has now had his say on the biggest rumour involving Mercedes over the course of the winter.

“F1 has always been a great provider of headlines over the winter break. And by the sheer lack of racing results and the controversy on track, dropping a bombshell of a headline, always sells,” Wolff told reporters at Mercedes’ W11 livery reveal.

“And in that respect, I’m always surprised that there’s just some lunatic out there that writes something on an internet page and it’s being picked up, which was a complete nonsense story, which was put straight by the CEO of Daimler the following day.

“That is one part of the story.

“The other part is that with everything we do, we have to question is it the right activity that we deploy? It’s whether it’s in the petrochemical business, whether it’s as an OEM in the car industry, or whether it’s F1.

“We, as Daimler today, we see the advantages and the benefits that Formula 1 as a marketing platform provides to us and we see the data. And that is the underlying condition why we’re doing it.”

Mercedes has signalled their intent on staying in Formula 1 with the announcement of a five-year deal with new partners INEOS. The new sponsorship feature prominently on the new Mercedes W11 livery.

Wolff stated that whilst Mercedes want to stay in Formula 1 for the long term, there are still “many areas” to address with Formula 1 and the FIA ahead of the 2021 season.

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