Torger Christian “Toto” Wolff was born on January 12, 1972 in Vienna (Austria), and spent the first years of his life there. With a Polish mother and a Romanian father, the current head of Mercedes grew up in a humble family, with not too many financial resources, and the situation worsened when his father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At that time, little Toto was 8 years old.
His love of racing came rather unexpectedly, as Wolff explained to Sky Sports : “It was pure coincidence. I had visited Amsterdam with some friends – don’t ask why – and on the way back we passed the Nürburgring.”
“One of my best friends was racing in the German Formula 3 championship,” he revealed. “I was fascinated by the scenery, I loved the cars and the drivers, and I decided I wanted to take a chance. I did some research and decided to buy a Seat Ibiza with my savings and a small loan. Every month I managed to pay off the loan, and I started to I sold my road car and drove the race car on the track and on public roads, that’s how my career started.”
Night driving to do kilometers
Enthusiasm and commitment were not lacking, but Wolff was not the greatest Austrian talent: “My first race was the Seat Ibiza Cup. Thirty competitors and I said: ‘I’m going to enter and I’m going to beat them all, for sure’. first qualifying session I finished eighteenth”.
“They told me that obviously it was because the engine needs 1,000 kilometers to perform at its best, and mine was new,” recalled Toto. “That was in Spielberg, in the current Red Bull Ring. So I drove my Seat all night until I reached 1,000 kilometres, I came back and started the next qualifying.”
“18th again. Then I realized it took more than I expected. Then I did a serious racing course, got into Formula Ford, and things got better from then on.”
In 1992 Wolff made his Formula Ford debut in his country, driving three seasons in Germany and Austria in the junior category. In 1994, it triumphed in its category at the emblematic 24 Hours of Nürburgring. To finance his life as a pilot, and to gain even more experience, he began working as an instructor on the Spielberg circuit.
“It was hard because I had no financial support from home,” said the Mercedes member. “I received an offer from the best Formula Ford team of the time to work as an instructor at the old Spielberg circuit.”
“There was a farm nearby where I paid one or two euros a day for bed and breakfast. The best thing about my job was that I not only taught children to drive, but I could also shakedown cars in the evening. morning and driving them in the afternoon. That gave me a lot of experience that would be valuable for my own races.”
The reality that Alex Wurz showed him
Despite that experience, he never came out on top in the formative categories, largely because of compatriot Alexander Wurz .
“Yes, he was the one who made me think of doing something else with my life. He probably doesn’t even know it. The old Österreichring had a very fast corner, the Bosch Kurve, which went downhill. With a Formula Ford you slid down that curve on all four wheels”.
“He had that control, I didn’t. I missed out on the karting experience, the possibilities and the test kilometers due to lack of budget. At the time I thought, ‘I’m not going to make it to the top.'”
In the end he reached the pinnacle of motorsport, but from the pit wall instead of the driver’s compartment. In 2009 he bought shares in the Williams Formula 1 team, only to join the official Mercedes team four years later. Under his direction, the team became the most dominant in the history of the Great Circus.
In subsequent years he continued to occasionally compete as a driver with some success, including in the FIA GT Championship and the Austrian Rally Championship.
