RACINGAWARDS 2019
TEAM BOSS
OF THE YEAR
TotoWolff
Mercedes
HOW YOU VOTED
Toto WolffMercedes 46.7%
Christian HornerRed Bull 23.5%
Andreas SeidlMcLaren 17.9%
Mattia BinottoFerrari 5.2%
GuentherSteinerHaas 3.8%F1 RACING JANUARY 2020 97“Thank youvery much, I’mvery
proudto be vote d by the readers
of the most prestigious F1
magazineto be team principal of
the year. I don’t say that lightly,
it’s really an honour.Team principal
of the year is something to be
proud of.”
TotoWolffPost-season, as Mercedesis applaudedfor
its achievement of securing six consecutive
championship doubles, there’s a standout
image from the year, of the man who sits at
the top of the successful organisation.
On the pitwall at the German Grand Prix,
Toto Wolff is wearing a vintage brownFedora
hat, black braces and slacks. He’s surrounded
by the most senior members of his raceteam.
It’s a reminder that while one man at thetop
of the organisationgets the accolade, he relies
on a wholeteam of people – includingover a
thousand staff back at Brackley and Brixworth- to put two-race winning cars on the track.
In the photograph,Wolff is enjoying a joke
with his closest allies: strategist JamesVowles,
trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin
and team manager Ron Meadows. LikeToto,
they are all in 1950s period costume.
The German Grand Prix was meantto be a
celebration. Mercedes had rescued the race
from cancellationto celebrate its 200th grand
prix and 125 years of motorsport, and the whole
team was bedecked in period costume.
There was a party atmosphere until the
nightmare of the race began. From a position
of authority, bothLewis Hamilton andValtteri
Bottas made mistakes in the rain, the latter
crashing out atTurn 1. Hubris had got the
better of theteam.
But after the race,Wolff showed the humility
in defeat that has characterised histenure at
the top of Mercedes and has endeared himto
his employees. He described the race – which
was attendedby the board of Mercedes
and filmedby Netflixfor season two of the
television company’s ongoing F1 documentary- as “Armageddon”, adding, “sometimes you’ve
got to take a slap on the nose and just learn.
These are the days that make us better.”