Motorsport

MERCEDES boss Toto Wolff has opened up about the tragedy of losing his dad to cancer when he was just 15 – and says it has motivated him to become the successful F1 boss he is today.Wolff, 51, was born in Vienna, a two-hour drive from the venue for this weekend’s Austrian GP.
Toto Wolff has opened up on losing his dad at 15Credit: Reuters
His net worth saw him announced as a billionaire by Forbes earlier this year – but it was a far cry from the financial hardship and loss he experienced as a child.
He said: “There is a certain genetic predisposition that you have, you are good at things, bad at others.
“You have a certain degree of talent but there is a big influence obviously through your childhood and I believe that there were many effects in my life — humiliation and trauma — that were beneficial for my later career.
“I would rather that they did not happen. So it is a mix in my opinion.

“Talent needs to meet hard work, there needs to be ambition, particularly with children and teenagers who grow up, the right support network and then a big portion of luck.
“It [his father’s death] has an impact until today. Since I can remember my father was ill with the brain cancer and suffered with it for 10 years and then eventually died when I was 15.
“That is a time when as a boy you need the father. That wasn’t the case with me. We were in financial difficult circumstances that didn’t help either.
“So that certainly is part of how I am today with all the bad sides that come with it, the trauma, but also on the other side, I think ambition and eagerness to do well.”
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The death of his dad has motivated Toto Wolff to succeedCredit: Alamy
Wolff had a short-lived racing career in the Austrian Formula Ford, but it ended after a few years when his main sponsors pulled out of racing.He shifted his focus from racing to the business of racing, and he enrolled in the Vienna University of Economics. pic.twitter.com/kZiELuaPgb— Polina M. Pompliano (@polina_marinova) October 6, 2021

Wolff started his career in motorsport as a driver in 1992 competing in the Austrian Formula Ford Championship.
He had some success and in 1994, he won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in his category.
His involvement in F1 started in 2009 when he bought a share of the Williams Formula One Team and joined the board of directors.
In 2012, he was named executive director of Williams F1 but a year later had left the team to become an executive director of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
Since then he has won eight constructors’ titles with the Brackley-based team, forming a strong partnership with Lewis Hamilton.
And Wolff says he has always wanted to be a leader of a team that comes out a feeling of protection.
Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton have had significant success together at MercedesCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Speaking on Secrets of Success, which is available on Sky Sports and Sky Documentaries, he added: “I always had that desire of protecting the ones around me — my family and my friends.
“Also the organisation that I am lucky enough to lead, it’s that professional family, that tribe and if somebody tries to do bad then it’s my full force I will give it to protect them.
“First of all, you need to create a safe environment. If somebody is scared to lose his or her job then they are not going to speak up.
“So you need to prove that safe environment. Here it is allowed to make mistakes.
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“On the contrary, mistakes make us improve as tough as the situation may be. And eventually that is going to trickle down into the organisation that you can do that.”
Secrets of Success is available on Sky Sports and Sky Documentaries from Wednesday June 28. Toto Wolff was speaking with Nasser Hussain, the former England cricket captain. More

NICO ROSBERG was once on top of the F1 world but after suddenly retiring he has started running green technology festivals.The German-Finn beat childhood friend and rival Lewis Hamilton to the world championship in 2016 but left the sport just five days later.
Nico Rosberg is now a sustainability entrepreneurCredit: Getty
He won the F1 World Championship in 2016Credit: PA:Press Association
He beat Mercedes team-mate Leiws Hamilton to the title by five pointsCredit: Getty
Rosberg, 37, admitted that the main reason behind his retirement was down to being “afraid” he would not be fast enough and eventually left without a team.
He has since gone on to become a success in the sustainability world and established the Greentech Festival for technology in 2019.
He told the Sustainability Mag: “While I was still an active F1 driver, I was fully concentrated on my career.
“This changed drastically when I ended my racing career and began to show interest for other technologies, particularly in the space of sustainable mobility.
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“Through my former employer Daimler, I was introduced to the latest powertrain developments and future technologies in their R&D, which I thought were fascinating.
“So I began to invest in e-mobility start-ups and later moved on to other sustainability projects.”
Rosberg has overcome being judged for his career in F1 in the sustainablitiy world and has argued that motorsport has helped road cars become more efficient.
He added: “In the beginning, the shift from F1 to sustainability certainly seemed like a bold move, but people quickly understood that we need to have a positive view on innovation and technology in order to advance on matters of climate protection.
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“Motorsport has played a big role in making our road cars more efficient and continues to be an important platform for new technologies.
“The mindset in F1 is, there is no ‘can’t do’.
“This is precisely what we need to fight climate change.”
The technology festival takes place annually and has featured in Berlin, London, New York and Singapore.
After his retirement, Rosberg also worked for Sky Sports as a pundit during the F1 season.
During his career behind the wheel Rosberg claimed 23 wins in his 206 races and finished on the podium 57 times.
He suffered a huge crash in Abu Dhabi in 2012 when he collided with Narain Karthikeyan.
Luckily, Rosberg came away unscathed from the incident, but reflecting on moments such as these make him all the more pleased he stopped when he did. More