Mercedes Bears the Fruits of Brave $30,000,000 Masterstroke as Revenue Doubles to $450,000,000 in Just 9 Years

Ever since Toto Wolff stepped his feet into the shoes of the Mercedes team boss, the partnership has turned out to be the most dominant in the modern F1 era. The Silver Arrows won 8 consecutive World Constructors’ Championships and 7 consecutive World Drivers’ Championships since the Austrian took over. However, their success isn’t limited to just on-track results. The financial success Toto has led Mercedes to is no short of a mean feat either.

After supplying engines to teams like Sauber, McLaren, and Brawn GP, Mercedes decided to jump into the pool as a full-fledged team in 2010. However, for three years, the Brawn GP revamped team couldn’t achieve much. They failed to win any race during that period and only managed to finish 5th in the 2012 standings. That was despite the fact that they had the great Michael Schumacher driving for them. All this while, Toto, who was a 16% investor in Williams back then, saw his team win the 2012 Spanish GP. The impressive feat attracted Mercedes to him.

As per Joe Pompliano, “Mercedes asked Toto Wolff to run their F1 team, but Toto declined because of his equity stake in Williams. So Mercedes sweetened the deal, offering him an unlimited budget and a 30% stake in the team at an “attractive valuation” of ~$30M.”

Toto accepted the deal and took over the job in 2013 and first tasted success when the hybrid engine era kicked off in 2014.

Joe continued, “The Mercedes F1 team has added 650 employees since 2013, and the team’s annual revenue has more than doubled. Headcount 2013: 650 2022: 1,300 Revenue 2013: $196 million 2022: $450 million”

Read More: What Happened Between Max Verstappen & Daniel Ricciardo in Azerbaijan?

Recently turned Billionaire, Wolff has not made a fortune with just Mercedes’ success, though. Aston Martin’s newfound purple match made him $3 million richer.

How Toto Wolff made a fortune amidst Mercedes’ misery

Ever since the introduction of ground effect regulations last year, Mercedes has struggled to fight for the wins. What amplified their misery, even more, was that Ferrari finished ahead of them in 2nd. Little did they know the embarrassment was about to kick up a notch in 2023. Their engine buyer, Aston Martin, made leaps of progress during the off-season and finished two back-to-back races ahead of them.

The newfound success pumped the Silverstone-based team’s market value up with a 15% jump shortly after the first race in Bahrain. The $300 million rise in valuation saw Toto’s 1% stake in the company rise by $3 million, according to Pompliano.

Watch This Story: How a Kitchen Rendezvous Prevented Lewis Hamilton-Toto Wolff’s “Divorce”

Mercedes finally got one over Aston in Melbourne as Lewis Hamilton finished 2nd ahead of Fernando Alonso in 3rd. Toto & Co. will look to keep the momentum going as we next move to Baku towards the end of this month.