Mercedes’ billionaire F1 team boss Toto Wolff refutes rumors of investing in Manchester United

Toto Wolff said that he isn't currently involved in a deal to invest in Manchester United.


Mercedes’ billionaire F1 team boss Toto Wolff refutes rumors of investing in Manchester United

Toto Wolff denies rumors of investing in Manchester United (via IMAGO)

Rumors emerged recently that the Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, Toto Wolff, is interested in investing in Manchester United, a historical Premier League team. Toto Wolff currently owns 33.333%, exactly one-third of the Mercedes F1 team, and the other two-thirds belong to Mercedes-Benz and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the UK’s second wealthiest person, leads Ineos. He aims to buy the team, pending the investment’s success. During an interview in Brazil, Sky News asked Wolff about the investment. The Austrian billionaire responded playfully, expressing his preference for Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola. However, he mentioned that this might pose an issue, given the rivalry between Manchester City and Manchester United.

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I am a fan of the Premier. Ratcliffe is such an intelligent person that I would be willing to talk if he could contribute something, but this is very far away. I am a fan of Pep Guardiola, so perhaps there would be an incompatibility.
Toto Wolff as reported by soymotor.com

Toto Wolff has been involved purely with Formula One since his takeover of the team more than a decade ago. Wolff was close with 3 time World Champion Niki Lauda, who also held a share in the team until he passed away in 2019. Wolff has not expressed any public interest in investing in a football team, but his vague response to reporters could be an indication of a potential deal brewing. 

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Toto Wolff says Mike Elliot’s departure was not due to zero-pod concept failure

Mercedes Chief Technical Officer Mike Elliott announced his retirement from the sport this week, amid Mercedes’ resurgence as the second-fastest squad in the past few races. Elliot was responsible for creating the zero-pod concept for the W13, which turned out not to be the way to go, as they did not win a single race for most of 2022.

Mark Elliott and Toto Wolff
Mark Elliott and Toto Wolff (via the Independent)

After struggling with the side-pod-less concept in 2023, Mercedes made a successful change in Monaco by introducing sidepods. While there was speculation that Elliott’s departure was due to the unsuccessful concept, Toto Wolff dismissed these claims and praised Elliott’s intelligence in the F1 industry.

[Car design] is never the decision of a single person. I think we as a group are trying to build the quickest racecar and obviously we were so far down the route with that concept of a car that we thought maybe we got on top of it. We didn’t. That’s why we changed it. And we put lots of plasters on the car in order to be more competitive, like we see now, but that hasn’t got any correlation.
Toto Wolff as reported by planetf1.com

Moreover, Wolff assured that Elliott’s retirement won’t harm the 2024 car development. He stated that their team is well-prepared to fill the gap created by his departure. Mercedes is in a tough battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship and striving for second place in the Drivers’ Championship with Lewis Hamilton.

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