Toto Wolff

Early life

Torger Christian Wolff was born on 12 January 1972 in Vienna to a Polish mother and a Romanian father. His mother was a physician. He grew up in the city and was educated in the Lycée Français de Vienne, a prestigious French school. Wolff's father was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was eight years old. His parents separated following his father's diagnosis. His father died of the disease when Wolff was 15. Wolff has spoken about how his father's battle with brain cancer during his childhood shaped his outlook on life and leadership.

Academic work

Wolff was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Cranfield University for his services to Motorsport in May 2021.

In November 2021, Wolff was appointed to an Associate Fellowship of Oxford's Saïd Business School for two years to transfer his understanding of high-performance culture, team leadership, and personal effectiveness from the racetracks into the classroom.

In February 2022, Wolff's leadership of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team was the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, authored by Anita Elberse. Wolff visited Harvard on 3 March 2022 to teach the case study to MBA students and lead a discussion on high-performance leadership and organisational culture.

In May 2022, Wolff was named as an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, a role in which he will serve as guest lecturer alongside Professor Anita Elberse.

"It's really difficult to find a team that has won what is effectively a world championship eight times in a row. Usually complacency sets in, or some other factor makes it impossible for the team to perform at the highest level. We tend to see very short life cycles for teams, but Wolff has kept his team at the top for eight years now. I find that really fascinating" said Elberse.

Wolff founded investment companies Marchfifteen (1998) and Marchsixteen (2004), which initially focused on internet and technology company investments. Since 2003, Wolff has concentrated on strategic investments in medium-sized industrial and listed companies. Investments included the German HWA AG, in which Wolff bought a 49% stake in 2006, listing the company on the stock exchange in 2007. The company ran the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race program for Mercedes-Benz, developing F3 engines and the Gullwing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 racing car.

Other investments included BRR Rallye Racing, one of the largest rally parts dealers in Europe. Wolff is also co-owner of a sports management company with former F1 driver Mika Häkkinen and was involved in the management of racing drivers such as Bruno Spengler, Alexandre Prémat and Valtteri Bottas. In April 2020, Wolff acquired a 4.95% stake in Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc as a financial investment, which subsequently was diluted to less than 1%. Wolff's partnership and operational role with Mercedes were unaffected by this transaction. In June 2020, Wolff held a 5% stake in Williams F1 which was sold in the purchase of Williams by Dorilton Capital.

In August 2021, tabloid Le Journal de Montréal speculated that Wolff and Aston Martin F1 boss Lawrence Stroll were involved in insider trading with respect to Aston Martin shares, something Wolff refuted in comments to the same newspaper. This allegation was proven to be unfounded following confirmation from the BaFin in Germany and the FCA in the UK that they had found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Wolff was also Director and CEO of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team and occasionally attended Formula E races. In August 2021, Wolff was present in Berlin as Mercedes won both the drivers' and teams' championships in Formula E, at a race won by Venturi driver Norman Nato, where his wife, Susie Wolff, became the first female team principal to stand on the podium at a world championship motor race. With Venturi driver Edo Mortara finishing second in the drivers' championships, the Wolffs led their respective teams to first and second positions in the Formula E drivers' championship.

Wolff is vice-chairman of the Mary Bendet Foundation, founded in memory of a school friend who was a role model for a generation of friends. The Foundation aims to improve the quality of life for underprivileged children.

Wolff is married to Susie Wolff (née Stoddart), a Scottish former racecar driver and current managing director of F1 Academy. He proposed to her on a boat in Venice. They married in October 2011, and live in Monaco. On 10 April 2017, Susie gave birth to their only child together, a son. He has two other children, a son and a daughter, Benedict and Rosa, from a previous marriage to a woman named Stephanie. Wolff is fluent in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Polish.

Wolff has spoken about his mental health struggles during his career in Formula 1. In a Sky Sports interview, he stated he would struggle "for months not being able to have a clear thought". Wolff described his mental well-being as his "super-power" whilst receiving professional help from a psychologist and acknowledging his wife, Susie Wolff, as a "strong rock" during these harder times. Red Bull's former team principal, Christian Horner, praises Wolff for "having the courage" to open up about his mental health after stating to The Sunday Times that he has seen a psychiatrist since 2004 and has had "over 500 hours" of therapy.