How traumatic childhood shaped Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff has candidly detailed how a traumatic childhood helped shaped him into being the successful leader of the Mercedes F1 team.

The 52-year-old Austrian has spearheaded Mercedes’ recent F1 success, leading the team to an unprecedented eight constructors' and seven drivers' world championship titles between 2014 and 2021.

But a difficult upbringing - including losing his father following a long battle with brain cancer when he was just 15 and financial hardship - had a huge impact on Wolff’s life.

“It’s a f****d up upbringing but through nobody else’s fault,” Wolff openly told the High Performance podcast.

“It was just the circumstances. My father got very ill with brain cancer when I was very young, six or seven years old. He got operated on many, many times until he died when I was 15.

“So my father wasn’t really present, couldn’t be present. As a young boy you fall in love with your father. He is your hero. Then you need to have those moments where you hate your father, where you are actually able to revolt in a way.

“I had none of that, only anger. At the same time my mother was a doctor and she tried to survive herself. And that’s why my sister and I were pretty much on our own and needed to look after her.

“But I am at total peace with that now. I also said to my mother, ‘you have no fault in that’, everybody just had to look after themselves.”

Wolff continued: “I think overcoming drama, trauma and humiliation creates more motivation to prove that you’re worth.

“Trying to overcompensate in order for maybe a feeling of feeling inadequate, or having been a victim. I see that with many successful people that there was some kind of event, or situations that scarred them and caused pain.

“Having said that there are very many successful people that had very happy upbringings. My wife had wonderful parents and a wonderful family and she still, in her own way, is doing very well.

“But more than being successful and doing very well, I think it’s more about being a happy adult and enjoying what you do and being able to rely on your friends and family.

“I think the two go hand-in-hand but there’s many examples that I have witnessed where people went through these negative events and that shaped them and made them who they are.”

Asked if he would be the person he is today without the trauma he went through, Wolff replied: “Maybe not because for me the worst of all situation was that I was a poor kid in an environment where there was wealth. I was going to a private school which we couldn’t afford.

“There was an instance where my sister and I were called out of class to the headmaster and he told us ‘you’ve got to leave the school, the fees are not paid’.

“This financial hardship, plus the family situation created a drive in me to be self-responsible, become an adult really quickly, look after my family financially and emotionally different to what I had.

“Definitely I wouldn’t be here if that wouldn’t have happened. If I didn’t feel that degree of inadequacy in front of my friends.”