Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reportedly cracks the $1 billion mark with his fortune

A new crop of sporting billionaires have reportedly emerged, which includes Mercedes F1 Team co-owner and principal Toto Wolff.

Wolff finds himself in a rather unique position when it comes to the bosses of the 10 teams on the Formula 1 grid.

That is because rather than only appointed to oversee the team’s operations, Wolff does this while also being a one-third owner of the Mercedes outfit, alongside Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler and INEOS.

And before Mercedes, Wolff had shares in the Williams team, that a gateway into Formula 1 team ownership for the former Austrian racing driver turned businessman.

His time with Mercedes has seen the team write themselves into the Formula 1 history books, having claimed eight Constructors’ titles in a row between 2014-2021, the longest streak ever seen in the history of the series.

In that time Mercedes also collected seven of the eight Drivers’ Championships on offer.

The team may not have tasted title success since 2021 now, but the value of Mercedes F1 simply continues to grow because Formula 1 as a whole is perhaps more valuable now than it has ever been.

Netflix’s hit docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’ really helped to get the ball rolling on Formula 1’s popularity explosion, with jam-packed grandstands and intense competition for a place on the calendar now very much the norm.

Formula 1’s budget cap has also served to ensure that the series has 10 very financially stable teams.

All of this is clearly paying off for Wolff, because as reported by Forbes, he is one of a dozen sporting stars to have joined their billionaires list for 2023.

Now placing Wolff’s net worth at $1 billion, Forbes state that Netflix’s influence has helped to transform Wolff “into a celebrity billionaire with the effect of its Drive to Survive docuseries on the value of Formula 1 teams”.

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It is perhaps no surprise then that Wolff has been one of the existing team bosses wary of the FIA’s considerations to expand the F1 grid in future, with the Andretti-Cadillac bid the most vocal on its intentions to get in on the action, Wolff having given it a rather cold reception.

The current rules dictate that any new team would need to pay a $200 million anti-dilution fee to join F1, that split among the existing teams as compensation for there being an extra piece of pie to be cut when it comes to revenue distribution.

However, with the value of Formula 1 and its teams continuing to soar, even that $200m figure has been questioned in regards to its sufficiency.