Breaking: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff signs a 3-year extension with the team

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff will continue to be a part of the team for three more years. The Austrian, who joined Mercedes in 2013, is in his 11th year on the team. In that time, he has led Mercedes and taken over as the chief of F1 operations, having had a very successful reign at the top of the team.

He overlooked an eight-year championship run from Mercedes that began in 2014 and continued until 2021. During this time, the German team only faced competition at the end of its reign in 2021, when Red Bull got the better of it in the drivers championship. With seven driver titles and eight constructors championships, Wolff is arguably one of the most successful team principals in the history of the sport.

There haven't been many who have had the kind of success that the Mercedes boss has in F1. Having said that, the last couple of seasons have not been the best for the German team or Wolff.

A team that won the constructors title for eight consecutive years could not win a race last season. However, Mercedes has backed Wollf to lead the team's revival.

In conversation with the Telegraph, Wolff stated:

"I think the most important thing between the three of us is that we trust each other. At the end of the day, as a shareholder myself, I want the best return on investment. And the best return on investment is winning."

“I’m not going to try to hang on to a position that I think somebody is going to do better than me. I make sure that I have people around who can tell me otherwise. In the end the three of us decided: ‘Let’s do it again,’” he added.

"I've never had a performance clause": Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

During the last two seasons, there have been conversations about what role the Mercedes boss plays in the downturn of form experienced by the team.

Toto Wolff claimed that he did embrace the challenges of being in F1 but also shared that there wasn't any performance clause in his contract.

“I’m part of this team in various functions. I’m a co-shareholder. I’m on the board. These are things which will not change whatever executive, or non-executive, role I have. But I feel good. The risk for me is always more bore-out than burnout. And that’s why I embrace the challenges we have today, even though they sometimes feel very, very difficult to manage,” he stated.

“I’ve never had a performance clause. You either trust each other or you don’t. And we are aligned as shareholders,” Wolff added.

Mercedes could not win even a single race last season, but the team is hoping for a much better run this year. It remains to be seen how the car responds on track.