"We've won a constructors' title now and this is something to be proud of, especially for Mercedes Benz, but there are so many other successful teams out there who have won multiple titles in a row, drivers' and constructors', who have shown what it means to have a sustainable, long-term, functional team. We've done it once and it's just not good enough yet."
An Austrian former amateur racing driver who made his money in the investment sector, Torger Christian "Toto" Wolff still owns 10 per cent of Williams, for whom his wife, Susie, is a test driver. Since January 2013 he's held 30 per cent of the Mercedes F1 team, which has only fuelled his "it isn't good enough yet" attitude.
"Maybe what makes competitive people competitive is that they always have the paranoia and the fear that this could be over immediately or this is just not good enough. You see always the negative and never see the positives. In Brazil we just analysed what went wrong. If you'd listened, you'd think it was another team!"
He admits to picking the thread of satisfaction until it comes apart and spoils the moment.
"I've had one single moment of happiness, and that was when I flew back with Lewis [Hamilton] and Niki [Lauda] from Sochi after winning the constructors' championship. You know when you have this one very precious couple of seconds where you have satisfaction?
"Lewis ate five Lindt chocolate balls, one after the other. I had a beer. What a bloody celebration. But looking back we'll be much more satisfied about it. We all read those books about how you need to cherish the moment. But it's so bloody hard to just do that. Maybe being so competitive, maybe wanting to win it again and again, makes your life more miserable. Or more fulfilled."
One of the big questions behind Mercedes' success is how much it owes to former team principal Ross Brawn's foresight. There's also a sense that Wolff woke things up and made the board at Mercedes realise what resources were needed. He also introduced demanding management which required people to assess their skills and shortcomings. He created a more cohesive entity and smoothed out some dysfunctionality.
Perhaps Wolff's greatest achievement has been to blend the strong egos of many talented characters - in management, driving and engineering - to create the superteam that toppled Red Bull.
The fastest woman in the world - Wolff's wife, Susie.
"We have such a strong group of senior individuals where everybody is in their positions and the analogy is we're not a group of 6-year-old rugby players. We are grown-ups. We let the ball run. We don't all run after the same ball. But if you want to ask somebody to challenge yourself or to brainstorm, you can grab the person and do that. You can only do that if you trust the guy."
For a self-confessed glass-half-empty guy, Wolff is a vibrant, amusing and likeable character who exudes positivity. There's steel behind the smile. Mercedes let Wolff get on with running the race team. After the acrimonious collision between Rosberg and Hamilton in Belgium, Wolff dealt with Rosberg in a manner that left the German cowed.
"The board understand that in order to be efficient, they needed to empower somebody. They didn't want to have a manager, they wanted to have somebody with skin in the game," Wolff explains, referring to his shareholding. "So you have your own risk of your investment which you can lose, and you have an alignment of interests.
"We are on a leash because we represent that mega brand and you have the responsibility for the brand. But they leave us a very long leash.
"I think we have just taken a lot of good decisions and that's not down to one person, but to many individuals. This is why it's called a team."
But he still worries, especially about the double points at Abu Dhabi. "Imagine we have a bloody DNF [did not finish] and [Daniel] Ricciardo wins the race. And clearly Lewis breaking down would be a nightmare. We cannot be complacent."
Even if Hamilton does fail to win the title, Wolff, who started contract-extension talks with the Briton during the week, says: "We want him to stay for many more years. He is great for the team. He is part of the family."
-Independent
