8X Mercedes Champ & Billionaire Toto Wolff Reveals Lunch-Time Story With “Richest Man in the World” as the Roots to His F1 Success

Toto Wolff is one of the most successful men in the realm of Formula One. The Mercedes F1 boss is a billionaire now, but there was a time when he had to do some odd jobs to make ends meet. Today, when he recalls those days, he cannot believe how far he has come.

While Toto comes from an investment background, motor racing was his first passion. He admits to pinching himself every day as he still cannot get on terms with the reality that he has been able to combine his two passions and make a career out of them.

Toto Wolff recalls a crazy incident involving Carlos Slim and Rubens Barrichello

Toto Wolff recently appeared on Channel 4 Sport for an interview. In the interview with Formula One veteran David Coulthard, Toto narrated his meeting with the then-richest man Carlos Slim. He recalled how mesmerized Slim was after watching Rubens Barrichello.

Toto said, “I had the pleasure to have lunch with Carlos Slim. And back in the day I think he was the richest person on the planet and Rubens Barrichello came in and Carlos Slim asked me if he could have an autograph of Rubens Barrichello and I thought, “that’s the wrong way around!”

“Rubens should ask Carlos for an autograph.”

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The Mercedes boss said that this is the kind of emotion this sport triggers in people. He said that people of all demographics follow Formula One. That is why he considers himself lucky to be part of Formula 1.

Toto on how his journey with sporting teams started

Toto’s journey in Formula One started with him investing in the Williams F1 team. However, this was not his first sporting venture. He said that his journey with sports teams started much before investing in Williams.

He recalled, “I had a joint venture with AMG, in running touring cars where we (pointing towards Coulthard) met where you raced in DTM.”

He continued, “I had a joint venture in a management structure with Mercedes before we supported young drivers. Then it kind of grew and 3 years into my investment career in Williams, the CEO quit and I asked Frank, “what do you think about running this together?”

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Wolff said that if you were to tell his 18-year-old self that he was able to combine his investment world with Formula One, he wouldn’t believe it. The Formula One giant has certainly come a long way and his story has been pretty interesting to follow.