Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said he could well “spontaneously” decide to stand down from his senior role at the Silver Arrows.
Wolff signed a new three-year deal with the Mercedes F1 Team in December, as the team adopted a new ownership structure, with Wolff, Daimler and Ineos becoming equal third-part owners.
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Commenting on his decision to stay on as Mercedes team principal and CEO, Wolff said the move will have implications that stretch much longer than the term of his new deal.
“I reflected for a year if I wanted to continue in this sport, and I took the decision, yes,” Wolff said in an interview with GP Fans.
“But the decision was not that am I willing to continue to lead this team from an operational standpoint but it was more, do I want to stay involved as a shareholder.
“This means the team becomes me and I become the team long-term and this is the decision I took.
“We are three equal shareholders, we complement each other, and whatever I do in the team I’m staying in my role as a co-owner.
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“As long as I enjoy the competition and honesty of the stopwatch, I will continue.
“But I may decide spontaneously that somebody else can carry the baton better, be quicker, more agile, refreshed than me, but not yet,” the Austrian concluded.
Mercedes have won every Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship since 2014, when Formula 1 entered its V6 turbo-hybrid era.
However, in the final season of these regulations, Mercedes have come under threat from a resurgent Red Bull and Max Verstappen, who led both Championships until suffering yet more bad luck last time out in Hungary.