Wolff: “Ferrari would have used their veto”

The new CEO of Formula 1 was announced on Friday. Stefano Domenicali will take over from Chase Carey in January. Toto Wolff has announced that he had exploratory talks about the position.

"I think everyone knows that there have been exploratory talks, but that hasn't gone any further. We're making good progress and I respect what Greg [Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media] has achieved, but I like being at Mercedes," says Wolff to Motorsport.com. Still, it wouldn't have mattered much according to the Mercedes team boss. "It wouldn't have happened in the end anyway, because Ferrari wouldn't have accepted that."

Last winter, when rumours about Wolff's possible ambitions hit the headlines, Ferrari quickly applied the brakes. CEO Louis Camilleri then stated that key members of a team taking up a position in the championship "automatically create a conflict of interest, rightly or wrongly." This ultimately led to the agreement that no one can be accepted by the F1 that has worked for a Formula 1 team over the last two years, also known as the Toto rule.

It is all the more striking that the new CEO of the Formula used to be team boss at Ferrari, albeit some time ago. "Ferrari had the right and I respect that too. I might have thought the same. But anyway, in the end you have to have the best man to run the sport and I think they have them today. Stefano is a top man," concludes Wolff.