Mar.27 (GMM) Fans of Toto Wolff should not look for the Mercedes team boss and co-owner at Suzuka.
“It’s true, I won’t be in Japan,” the Austrian confirmed. “(Communications boss) Bradley Lord will be standing in for me there.
“He chooses his words more carefully than I do anyway.”
In the past few years, as the calendar swelled, Wolff has sat out one or two of the longer-haul races. But it’s a very busy time for the Austrian – in a close fight with the other three major teams, and already tackling questions about the driver lineup for 2026.
His 18-year-old protege Kimi Antonelli replaced Lewis Hamilton this year and has impressed so far, but even more impressive has been his experienced teammate George Russell, whose quiet consistency means he’s only a single point behind Max Verstappen’s P2 in the drivers’ standings.
Still, 27-year-old Russell’s contract runs out at the end of the year. Wolff seems very happy with Mercedes’ senior driver.
“I’ve always said that he’s one of the top drivers out there,” Wolff said. “If you want me to name three that I consider the top drivers, he’s absolutely in those three, if not the top two, and maybe on his way to the top one.”
However, he was quite coy in Shanghai when asked if he would snap up Max Verstappen if the opportunity to sign him suddenly arose for 2026.
“Toto Wolff was very passive, you’d have to say,” former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher told Sky Deutschland. “And when someone like that is calm, you can clearly tell that something is already going on in the background.
“For him, it’s a luxury problem. The question, of course, is what does he do? Because he has two drivers who are close to his heart. George Russell, who is currently fighting for his future, which is very clear – you can really tell.
“And also Kimi Antonelli, who he thinks highly of,” Schumacher added.
For now, Wolff’s bigger focus might be on closing the gap to McLaren and charging for the current championship.
“We are not yet where we want to be,” he said. “We will only be satisfied when we are winning races again and fighting for championships.
“But you can make up two tenths, even three tenths. I wouldn’t say we’re really in the title race yet, but we’re not far behind.”
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