Toto Wolff wants to see Aston Martin put up a good fight against Red Bull this season – but not just because he leads the defending champions' main Formula 1 rivals.
The Austrian had a pretty miserable time in Bahrain last weekend as his Mercedes team struggled to make much of an impression. Even before Sunday's race, he was already admitting in public that his team needs to rethink its car concept.
Finishing fifth and seventh in the race hardly improved his mood. He declared it was "one of the worst days in racing" he has ever experienced and called upon his team to "get our act together" and try to rescue something out of what looks likely to be another difficult year for Mercedes.
But Wolff did at least have something to be pleased about. Aston Martin may not have been able to compete with Red Bull, but they had the second quickest car on the track. Fernando Alonso stood on the podium with the two Red Bull drivers, while Lance Stroll beat one of the Mercedes cars to finish sixth.
"They did a really good job – they hired a Red Bull man [Dan Fallows] who managed to make the car suddenly two seconds faster," he told OE24, referring to Aston Martin and their huge jump in performance in such a short space of time.
"A year ago they were 17th and 19th in practice. We knew that Alonso was strong and motivated, but even Lance Stroll rode up front with two broken hands and a broken toe. That proves how good the car is. I've never seen such a jump in Formula 1."
Aston Martin are powered by Mercedes engines, and also use several other parts crafted by the German carmaker such as the gearbox and the rear suspension. But Wolff has a more selfish reason for wanting to see the Silverstone team do well – it could make him a fortune.
The Austrian bought a small share of the Aston Martin stock and, later, Mercedes took a 20% stake in the company. The share price has been trending downwards for years, but has recovered a little in recent months.
And it saw a big jump this week when the markets opened, in response to the Aston Martin-branded F1 team's good performance in Bahrain. "I hope the share price goes up," said Wolff, clearly pleased that it will help him to become a wealthier man if Aston Martin continue to compete at the front.
