People & Perspectives

Lewis Hamilton

At the age of eight, Lewis sat in a kart for the first time and was immediately hooked. In 1997 McLaren Mercedes enrolled him in their young driver program while his Grand Prix debut on with the team came 10 years later, in 2007. The numerous records set by Lewis in his rookie season highlighted his class -including the most race wins, pole positions and points scored in a debut season. At 23 years old, he captured his first FIA Formula One World Championship - taking the accolade of the youngest ever champion. After six successful seasons with McLaren Mercedes, Lewis joined the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 Team for the 2013 season and has since gone from strength to strength. To date, Lewis has won five further Formula One Drivers’ World Championships with the works Mercedes team and continues to break records and set new standards with the world of Formula One.

Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri entered his very first kart race at the tender age of just six years old. Throughout his karting career, Valtteri won numerous Championships and was a member of the Finnish national karting squad for seven years. Having made the step-up at the age of 17 to single-seater racing, Valtteri went on to secure great success on the road to F1, including championship victory in the prestigious GP3 series, which opened the door to a full-time test role in F1 in 2012.  After four seasons with Williams Racing, Valtteri was presented with the opportunity to become the 11th driver to compete in Formula One with the works Mercedes team. It proved to be a breakthrough year for Valtteri as he won his first Grands Prix in Russia, Austria and Abu Dhabi. Valtteri’s most successful F1 season to date was in 2019, when having started brilliantly with a win in Australia, he finished the season with four victories, five pole positions, 15 podiums and 326 points.

Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff is Team Principal & CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. He is the managing partner of the team alongside wider responsibilities as Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. After a short racing career in the Austrian Formula Ford, Torger Christian ‘Toto’ Wolff found a new outlet for his talent – investment. He founded his own investment company, Marchfifteen, in 1998, followed by Marchsixteen in 2004. In 2002, Toto started a new venture, co-owning a racing driver management company alongside two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen. After purchasing a 30 per cent stake of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. in January 2013, Toto became managing partner. Later that year, he was announced Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. He went on to assume full responsibility for the entire Mercedes-Benz motorsport program – from Formula One to DTM, sports cars and the Formula 3 engine program. Under his leadership, the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team has clinched six consecutive Formula One Double World Championships, winning a total of 92 Grands Prix to date.