Toto Wolff says he has great respect for Nico Rosberg, who reinvented his career after F1, and he still feels bad about the 2016 situation.
MercedesF1 team principal Wolff deeply admires his former driver Rosberg, who shockingly announced his retirement from the sport after winning the 2016 drivers’ championship in a hard-fought battle against Lewis Hamilton.
It shocked Wolff and the world alike. But how the German has reinvented himself outside F1 as an investor is inspiring and highly respectable. He has only seen Niki Lauda reinvent himself in a totally different career in this way.
Wolff Has Respect for Rosberg Reinventing his Career Outside F1
In fact, Wolff also invested in Rosberg’s venture, being good friends to date. The German often features on Sky Sports F1 as a pundit. “There are not many Formula 1 drivers, other than Niki, who I know that have been able to kind of reinvent themselves in a totally different career,” said Wolff to the media. “And I see Nico a lot.
“I respect him a lot. We are friends. He set up a venture capital fund that is one of the best-performing. He is giving it 24/7, he is very hard-working. And he is respected within the tech industry very much.
“I am happy to be invested there and associated, and you really need to take your hat off, seeing what he’s been able to achieve in this very short time of 10 years since he’s left the sport. So that’s the current situation,” summed up Wolff.
Wolff Would Handle Things Differently Now
In saying so, the Mercedes chief has one regret about handling things way back in the 2016 F1 season. The finale in Abu Dhabi was kind of orchestrated from the pits when Hamilton slowed the pack to help his chances of winning the F1 drivers’ title.
He wanted to slow the pack and put Rosberg at risk of being overtaken. From a team point of view, it shouldn’t have been allowed, and Wolff, as team principal, in hindsight feels he should have stepped in and disallowed such tactics.
“Looking back at it, I wish I would have had the 10 years more experience than I have today, because there’s a few things I would have handled differently and maybe avoided some of the controversy, particularly in the last race where we tried to micromanage a situation that didn’t need to be managed, in my opinion,” said Wolff.
“And that was my fault. So yes, 10 years. It’s crazy how fast time runs. It feels like it’s maybe five years ago, but we’ve moved on from that. My relationship and the team’s relationship with Lewis is as strong as it can be whilst being rivals on track, and the same with Nico,” summed up Wolff.