Wolff Announces Mercedes Focus on Formula 1

(GMM) Toto Wolff (pictured) says Mercedes is shutting down its diversification experiments and returning to a single-minded focus on Formula 1, as the team prepares for a decisive reset under the 2026 regulations.

Speaking to Forbes, the Mercedes boss confirmed that ventures beyond F1 – including involvement in the America’s Cup and technology consulting – are being wound back after several seasons without a world championship.

“We don’t want to do this anymore,” Wolff said bluntly. “We’re a Formula 1 racing team. We don’t want to go sailing. We don’t want to do any other sports.

“Complete focus on only Formula 1.”

After dominating the sport from 2014 through 2020, Mercedes has endured an entire regulatory cycle from 2021 to 2025 without a drivers’ title, despite winning its eighth consecutive constructors’ championship in the first year of the ground-effect era.

“This was the first time that we didn’t get it right,” Wolff admitted of the 2021 reset.

Despite that, Mercedes is now valued at around $6 billion, placing it alongside Ferrari at the top of the sport’s financial hierarchy.

Wolff himself has benefited handsomely, turning his stake into a personal fortune estimated at $2.5 billion. His focus, however, is on the latest regulations reset for 2026, including 100 percent sustainable fuel and a new hybrid power unit formula.

“That is what Formula 1 stands for,” he said. “Innovation, high tech, and being the fastest laboratory in the world.”