20/08/2025 15:25
Toto Wolff has dismissed the notion that he is difficult to
negotiate with, dispelling a myth recently propagated by former
driver Nico Rosberg. The Mercedes team principal maintained he is
"fair" at the deal-making table, which is believed to have
oftentimes been his own kitchen table in the past . Despite some of
the "horrible" tactics that the 2016 F1 drivers' champion stated
the Austrian employs, Wolff explained how he tries to empathise by
"transferring my soul" to the person sitting opposite him. It is a
subject that has received considerable airtime as F1's silly season
kicks into gear, with substantial noise engulfing Mercedes. The
Brackley-based squad is expected to imminently confirm that George
Russell and Kimi Antonelli will remain with the team for the 2026
F1 season, a move that will finally put to rest months of
speculation surrounding its driver lineup. During that period,
Wolff found himself at the centre of the F1 rumour mill as he
engaged in talks with Max Verstappen over the Dutchman potentially
leaving Red Bull in the not-too-distant future. It left his two
drivers in a precarious situation, but the 53-year-old insists that
when actually at the negotiating table, he tries to put himself in
the other person's position. When asked what kind of negotiator he
is and how tough he might be, Wolff explained why he was not. "No,
I believe I'm fair," Wolff told Formula.hu. "I believe that you
need to always put yourself in the shoes of the other person. "So
I'm transferring my soul on the other side of the table, and I'm
thinking if I were him or her, what would I want to achieve? "Then
I'm going back to myself and say, what is fair here actually? What
do I think is the right thing to do? "And I consider that, and I
think I'm balanced at that. But obviously, either side sometimes
wants to optimise, and so it can be tricky."
