Taking Valuable Lessons from Parents’ “Divorce”, Toto Wolff Conducts Honest Talks with Lewis Hamilton to Solve Contract Problems

What do the two richest people in their own roles in F1 have in common? They both represent Mercedes. That’s right, Lewis Hamilton is the richest F1 driver on the grid with a massive net worth of  $280,000,000. Apart from that, there is no team boss who has a bigger net worth than Toto Wolff. As we all know, the Austrian is a billionaire now with his over-a-decade-long grind in F1 with Mercedes. However, there is more in common between the two than meets the eye. The Mercedes boss revealed an aspect of his childhood to which even Hamilton can relate to. It is also an aspect from which Wolff learned valuable life lessons which he used to calm Hamilton down during difficult contract negotiations.

Many don’t know about Wolff’s childhood, which had its own challenges and was riddled with financial hardships after his parent’s divorce. However, the Austrian learned an invaluable life lesson because of which he was able to convince Hamilton to stick with Mercedes back in 2016. First, let’s look at Wolff’s childhood which he revealed on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs podcast.

“From this early age, it’s almost like I took over within the family,” said Wolff. “I had to look after my sister and my mother and to look after him. We had these weekends with him because my parents divorced afterward.” To this, the interviewers commented, “So their relationship didn’t survive what he was going through.”

Wolff revealed, “No the relationship didn’t survive also because of the financial hardships that we had.”

Read More: After Launching Staggering $25,000,000 Demand, Lewis Hamilton Issues Fresh Update on His Contract Negotiations With Mercedes

A 15-year-old forced to take charge of his entire house is a difficult jump for any young adult. Wolff might’ve been forced to put on his big boy pants before time. However, he used all his experience and learnings from his experiences to continue Mercedes’ championship-winning run.

Toto Wolff made a kitchen rendezvous with Lewis Hamilton to save their “marriage”

Back in 2016, after Hamiton’s teammate and ardent rival Nico Rosberg won the championships, there was a lot of uncertainty in the Mercedes camp. There were talks of Hamilton leaving the team because he felt betrayed. During that time, both Wolff and Hamilton had not spoken to each other in a while. However, speaking from experience and using his real-life examples, Wolff convinced Hamilton to call off the “divorce”.

“A key moment was at the end of 2016 when we didn’t speak to each other for a while. So I invited him to come to my kitchen in Oxford and sit down and have a chat. The analogy I gave to him is that also I have arguments with [my wife] Susie,” said Wolff

“Even if we shout at each other, even if we have this argument, there’s never thought of divorcing, and that’s why I said to him, ‘I don’t want to divorce you and neither do you. Because I want the best racing driver in our cars and you want to have the best cars.’ So we came to the conclusion that we can have conflict, we can create an atmosphere where we’re able to be brutally honest with each other, and sometimes we agree to disagree, but we move on,” added Wolff.

So even though Wolff has rejected Hamilton’s $25 million demand, it’s not the end of the world. The two are mature enough to do their jobs and be professional about it.

WATCH THIS STORY | How a Kitchen Rendezvous Prevented Lewis Hamilton-Toto Wolff “Divorce”