81 replies to this topic

[engineblock1]

Doesn't conflict of interest arise by the fact he has stakes in Mercedez, is the executive director out there and also has stakes in Williams ?

[LuckyStrike1]

Doesn't conflict of interest arise by the fact he has stakes in Mercedez, is the executive director out there and also has stakes in Williams ?

 

 

Yes, and that is why he resigned all his official duties in the Williams team and any active roles in Williams after he took up his new job at Mercedes and bought into the team. 

 

He still has the shares in Williams and as Williams is a public listed company that might not be so strange. He'll probably sell off the shares when there's a buyer for it... In the meantime, yes some conflict of interest might be there but it depends on how active he is with his ownership really. As of now he probably only has voting rights as a share holder and nothing more. 

 

Mind you - it's happened before that team managers have owned shares of other teams. For instance Flavio with Benetton, Minardi and I also believe at one point even Ligier. 

 

If you see Williams as a partner team/farmar team to Mercedes it might even make sense .... 

[undersquare]

I like Toto so far.  I guess there is a bit of resentment that he was involved in ousting Ross Brawn, but that must have been by invitation of the Daimler board after all.  

 

Apart from that there's a lot to like I think. He's open and does interviews, is an ex driver married to a driver who is our lovely Susie, which is a good sign IMO, and he totally took it to his fellow Austrians Dietrich and Helmet over sensorgate, which is a GREAT sign that he belongs in the Piranha club afaic and will go in to bat for his team.  He seems like a problem-solver.

 

I don't buy the idea that he favours Nico.  He'll favour a winning driver, end of, IMO.

 

And of course he has that kickass name 

[Jon83]

We know that he saw some of himself in Bruno Senna when he was at Williams.

[oetzi]

Nevertheless I miss the Austrian inflection and love to hear him talk

Gruess Gott

[Fatgadget]

I like Toto so far.  I guess there is a bit of resentment that he was involved in ousting Ross Brawn, but that must have been by invitation of the Daimler board after all.  
 
Apart from that there's a lot to like I think. He's open and does interviews, is an ex driver married to a driver who is our lovely Susie, which is a good sign IMO, and he totally took it to his fellow Austrians Dietrich and Helmet over sensorgate, which is a GREAT sign that he belongs in the Piranha club afaic and will go in to bat for his team.  He seems like a problem-solver.
 
I don't buy the idea that he favours Nico.  He'll favour a winning driver, end of, IMO.
 
And of course he has that kickass name 

Top drawer analysis of the man undersquare.....Cheers.

[Raziel]

I don´t like that guy at all because he bought himself a Executive director place at Mercedes-Benz Motorsport and not earned it! With his money, he took a job from real Mercedes guy Norbert Haug, who was at Mercedes for over 20 years!

 

His wife is at rivals F1 team Williams, and he was at Williams just one year ago and he´s still Williams shareholder! All of a sudden, he becomes the "main guy" at Mercedes F1 team! What a joke!

 

They should've replaced Norbert with other long time Mercedes guy from Stuttgart and not with some rich Toto guy..

 

That´s why for me (Mercedes is my favorite car brand) Mercedes F1 team is not a real, pure Mercedes! They are created on remains of Honda/Brawn, led by rich Austrian guy without Mercedes pedigree...

 

Yeah, money can buy you a lot of things...sadly...

[GoldenColt]

 

They should've replaced Norbert with other long time Mercedes guy from Stuttgart and not with some rich Toto guy..

 

 

As long as he's doing a good job - which I think he has done so far - the financial background shouldn't matter at all.

 

I don't mind nationalities that much, especially considering that for example McLaren is considered as THE british team despite Bruce McLaren being from New Zealand. It's not always that straightforward with nationalities anyway.

[king_crud]

i just wish we wouldn't have to hear about his wife anymore

[maximilian]

Gruess Gott

 

Servas!

[Raziel]

As long as he's doing a good job - which I think he has done so far - the financial background shouldn't matter at all.

 

I don't mind nationalities that much, especially considering that for example McLaren is considered as THE british team despite Bruce McLaren being from New Zealand. It's not always that straightforward with nationalities anyway.

 

The sad thing is, he has inherited super fast car from Brawn & Haug duo and he´ll take credit for all wins and championships this year. Simply, it´s not fair...

[jcbc3]

Haug was also taken in 'from the street'. He was a journalist with Auto Motor und Sport before his role at Mercedes.

Here he is testing a Williams in 1986: http://www.f1rejects....php?f=4&t=4220

[Fastcake]

I don´t like that guy at all because he bought himself a Executive director place at Mercedes-Benz Motorsport and not earned it! With his money, he took a job from real Mercedes guy Norbert Haug, who was at Mercedes for over 20 years!

 

His wife is at rivals F1 team Williams, and he was at Williams just one year ago and he´s still Williams shareholder! All of a sudden, he becomes the "main guy" at Mercedes F1 team! What a joke!

 

They should've replaced Norbert with other long time Mercedes guy from Stuttgart and not with some rich Toto guy..

 

That´s why for me (Mercedes is my favorite car brand) Mercedes F1 team is not a real, pure Mercedes! They are created on remains of Honda/Brawn, led by rich Austrian guy without Mercedes pedigree...

 

Yeah, money can buy you a lot of things...sadly...

 

Toto Wolff has a long background in motorsport, and his previous role at Williams saw him take significant responsibility for running the team as Sir Frank and Patrick Head stood back from their day-to-day roles. How exactly is he not the ideal candidate to be joint-running the Mercedes Formula One team? Why should Mercedes, an international company, restrict themselves to hiring company men whose only qualifications are keeping a desk warm in Stuttgart?

[MortenF1]

You guys/girls know about this, right?

[KnucklesAgain]

Gruess Gott

 

Servas!

[KnucklesAgain]

Servas!

 

Lol

[KnucklesAgain]

You guys/girls know about this, right?

 

As usual, half some of the posters are talking out of their backside.

Edited by KnucklesAgain, 25 April 2014 - 21:40.

[aditya-now]

Gruess Gott

 

Grüß Gott auch aus Hamburg - ja, das ist eine Wohltat, die österreichische Sprachmelodie immer wieder in der F1 zu hören....

 

It's great to hear the Austrian inflection all around the paddock - Toto Wolff, Dr.Helmut Marko, Niki Lauda, Alex Wurz (active for Austrian television), VIP Caterer Karl-Heinz Zimmermann, now also Do & Co taking over the Paddock Club - the only thing missing is a new champion Austrian driver.

[Vesuvius]

Toto is a nice guy, he knows much about F1 from various points and he is one of the reasons why Mercedes is so strong.

[Timstr11]

Toto is a nice guy, he knows much about F1 from various points and he is one of the reasons why Mercedes is so strong.

Really? 

We shouild stop believing that the minute someone walks into a team the team turns around and becomes competitive.

 

I don't dispute he's a nice guy but he is a late arrival and although I don't doubt he's made a contribution, it's been too short to credit him with the team's current competitiveness.

It's not that easy and simple.

[RubalSher]

And you know all these details how exactly? ...

 

Coz this guy is Ross Brawn!

[meddo]

Who changed topic name? 

If Gadget says it¨s Woolf, than it is Woolf

Edited by meddo, 14 May 2014 - 17:03.

[mclarensmps]

He seems like a stand up guy to me. He also seems to know what he's doing. Just because you inherit a good car, that doesn't mean the Race team automatically manages itself. He's doing a good job, and I think he should be commended for it. 

 

This, irrespective of how he got into the position

[Timstr11]

He seems like a stand up guy to me. He also seems to know what he's doing. Just because you inherit a good car, that doesn't mean the Race team automatically manages itself. He's doing a good job, and I think he should be commended for it. 

 

This, irrespective of how he got into the position

 

The Race team is the responsibility of the Executive Director Technical which is Paddy Lowe. 

Paddy Lowe is a bit media shy, so you don't see or hear him very much, but he is responsible.

In case you haven't noticed, Toto Wolff (Executive Director Business) does not sit on the pit wall.

And as Paddy says, they do decide together on things, but he is responsible for tech and race.

Wolff is the business guy who has to bring in the money so to speak, but he's not Paddy's boss. They run the team together with each their own area of responsibility.

This is exactly the confusion that Brawn was hinting at before he left. He was of the opinion there should be one man (not two) who's ultimately responsible.

Offically Mercedes AMG F1 has two leaders. but due to his presence in the media, everyone thinks Toto is the absolute boss.

 

This will help to put things a bit more in perspective:

 

Paddy Lowe: "I'm not in Formula One to get on TV," Lowe says. "It's not a big deal for me. Toto's very good with the press, a very personable guy. It's not an area in which we compete for space."

In his large office, Lowe expands on how Mercedes decided to get real about becoming the best team: "The old Ross Brawn team had been downsized in the face of the thin budget they had. And then we had RRA [resource restriction agreement], which came in and gave the illusion of restricting resources. So this team was a little bit slow to appreciate the level of commitment being made by their competitors. I'm talking about 2010-2011. Ross [the former team principal who left Mercedes at the end of last year] then progressively built the team up.

"The next push came when Toto and Niki Lauda arrived at the end of 2012, bringing in Lewis Hamilton, all working with Ross – who should take a lot of credit for the culture and approach that's still here – to go to the next stage by ramping up the resources we had to take on because of the challenge of the new rules, but also the challenge of Red Bull and Ferrari. We're still smaller, in terms of our expenditure, than those two teams."

http://www.theguardi...on-nico-rosberg

Edited by Timstr11, 14 May 2014 - 17:39.

[femi]

It's fair to say I'm not a fan of his. I would keep a close eye on him if I were Lewis, his lawyers and management team. The message from Lewis side should be clear; I'll do my job and be friendly and all that but don't even think about messing with me

Edited by femi, 14 May 2014 - 18:12.

[garagetinkerer]

i Can never forgive him for inflicting team Willy with Susie (and not in a fun way ), but this actually does make up for it a bit.

 

Regardless of what all is said and known about Toto... he is a great sport i reckon. I respect that!

[garagetinkerer]

No he isn't. So that is why he isn't very fancy. 

 

That and this 

 

 

All i can say is, how the,what the, why the...

 

Aren't Flav's pics in his wrong (who wears a man-thong, it is bloody wrong) specifically in a list of things not to do?

[study]

I do think he does promote nico above Lewis but not sure if this is him personally or so to keep on the German fans/media side

[Timstr11]

It's fair to say I'm not a fan of his. I would keep a close eye on him if I were Lewis, his lawyers and management team. The message from Lewis side should be clear; I'll do my job and be friendly and all that but don't even think about messing with me

 

That's a silly thought if I may say so. I don't think there's any evidence that Toto does not like Lewis. In fact my impression is that they get along very well and Toto has not come across partisan in any way.

Is it because he speaks german that people think he will automatically favour Rosberg?

[femi]

I do think he does promote nico above Lewis but not sure if this is him personally or so to keep on the German fans/media side

He actually said Lewis is very sensitive and reacts strongly to criticism. He misread it, my feeling is LH doesn't trust him. I wouldn't either.

[Timstr11]

He actually said Lewis is very sensitive and reacts strongly to criticism. He misread it, my feeling is LH doesn't trust him. I wouldn't either.

Which is true. A trait that makes him interesting actually. But let's not turn this into a Lewis Hamilton thread. I normally stay out of driver threads anyway as I don't enjoy the tribalism that goes on there.

[4MEN]

This should be on photoshopped, right?