How motorsport's most prominent power couple found joint success

They are the most influential and highest-profile couple in the recent history of racing. But while Mercedes motorsport boss Toto and Venturi Racing team principal Susie are often in the headlines after speaking to the press individually during a race weekend, seldom do they sit down and give a joint interview.

It takes a special achievement, and indeed a brief holiday. Just such an occasion arrived as they reflected on the personal accomplishment secured in Berlin last month when drivers Nyck de Vries (Mercedes) and Edoardo Mortara (Venturi) finished first and second in the Formula E drivers' championship. Among two well-celebrated careers, its a management feat both are massively proud of.

PLUS: How Mercedes and De Vries achieved Formula E glory the hard way

Toto explains to Autosport: "We have never done that [joint interview] because we are a married couple and each of us is on each other's journey and obviously, looking up to the other partner. But this time around, it felt very different. It was a result in Berlin which meant success for Mercedes and success for Venturi on the highest possible level - finishing 1-2 in a world championship.

"This is the moment we can actually, in a very balanced way, have such an interview and such a discussion. It is not Susie speaking about Toto's success. It's not Toto trying to speak about Susie's success. It was really our joint success. This is why this time around we have changed the principle.”

On what was a prosperous day at Tempelhof Airport in the German capital, Toto stopped an interview being broadcast live on TV to break away and applaud the podium as wife Susie took to the rostrum after Norman Nato bagged a dominant win.

"I wasn't aware of that," says Susie. "We've always been so supportive of each other. But in our respective roles we have had so much success together that it felt like something very special that day.

Nyck de Vries took the championship title in Berlin last month, on a day that Norman Nato won for Venturi

Photo by: Motorsport Images

"With Toto breaking off his interview, it doesn't surprise me because even when I was speaking with Gildo Pastor [Venturi founder] and considering taking on the completely new role of team principal [in 2018] Toto was the one behind closed doors saying, 'You've got that in you. It's going to be a challenge, but absolutely go for it'."

A major factor in the Formula E success was the Mercedes powertrain that powered the works cars and the two customer Venturi machines. It proved the pick of the class, with the two squads combining to score five wins from the 15 races last term.

Given Toto's role at Mercedes and his relationship to Susie, many assume an easy answer as to why the engine deal exists. But the origin of the contract lies with Venturi. It was the Monaco team and its then technical partner ZF that paved the way for HWA Racelab and latterly the fully fledged Mercedes operation.

"We've always been so supportive of each other. But in our respective roles we have had so much success together that it felt like something very special that day" Susie Wolff

Toto clarifies: "A new entrant or a private team can choose between all the power unit suppliers within Formula E. That's why we had to choose between a team that's obviously close to us or potentially any other.

"It needs a lot of trust and indeed, vice versa. Susie agreed for the ZF powertrain to be utilised in the HWA entry, and opened the books in terms of a joint learning process.

"She wasn't obliged to do that and without her OK to the ZF supply, we probably wouldn't have had such a smooth entry into Formula E with our works entry. So, on the contrary, it was a smart move started by her.”

The 2018-19 campaign, however, didn't mark an overly easy start to life in Formula E for Mercedes under the HWA banner or for Venturi. Despite the impressive Stoffel Vandoorne scoring a pole and a podium for the former, shared powertrain unreliability led to Venturi ranking eighth, albeit still with double the score of ninth-placed HWA.

Partnership with Venturi aided HWA in its first season before Mercedes joined as a bone fide works team

Photo by: Motorsport Images

As the Silver Arrows squad made its official series debut the season after, the threat grew, and Vandoorne led de Vries to a 1-2 in the final race of the season at Tempelhof to secure third place in the teams standings. Venturi was still in something of a slump, though.

Felipe Massa nabbed just two points finishes to Mortara's brace of top-five results. After the lengthy mid-season hiatus brought about by the global health crisis, the Swiss-Italian's results suffered also for the team to fall to 10th.

It was the 2021 campaign just gone, however, where the switch to Mercedes engines paid off as Brixworth's High Performance Powertrains site really began to flex the muscles. Despite the factory switching to the production of breathing aids during the first peak of the pandemic, a late call was made to press on and develop an all-new electric engine for the delayed start in Saudi Arabia.

The risky decision paid dividends. De Vries topped both practice sessions, headed group qualifying before snaring pole. He then won the race at a canter, with energy to spare and fastest lap to boot. It was a clean sweep never previously achieved in Formula E, while Mortara laid down an early marker for overtake of the season with a double pass on Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein to snare a fine second.

Susie says: "We showed what's possible with the power of two teams working together and that's something that makes me very proud. Venturi has just had its best season to date. But we couldn't have done that without the partnership with Mercedes. It may sound cliche but that was Toto's vision for success for Mercedes in Formula E.

"You see some of the big names which haven't been able to make it work in Formula E. It's such a difficult championship, it's so competitive with so little difference between the cars and the teams. But I think it's testament to what Mercedes has achieved coming in as relative late-comers but still managing to have incredible success.”

It was by no means a year without blemishes from then on. Mortara needed a precautionary trip to hospital after a brake failure in Sunday mornings Saudi practice. That led all four Mercedes-powered cars to be benched for qualifying until the FIA were satisfied a coding fix had been found.

De Vries dominated the first round of the 2021 Formula E season in Diriyah, as Venturi's Edo Mortara came through to second

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Victory for Vandoorne next time out in Rome (Merc's first outing on a bona fide street circuit) and de Vries triumphing amid the energy controversies in Valencia meant the three-pointed star had earned the spoils at the last four tracks it visited, stretching back to that maiden win in Berlin in August 2020.

Toto continues: "Nobody really wants to share. We've proven against a lot of resistance that working together within the framework of the technical and sporting regulations is a path to success. I think we've broken boundaries because the way the drivers have raced, the way we've been able to also develop our powertrain, prove the story to success.”

"When I saw Susie up there for the winning trophy, that was something quite emotional from a personal standpoint" Toto Wolff

From Monaco, through Puebla and then in New York City, a dip in form set in at the works Mercedes squad. Operational errors were afoot in the principality, the Mexican and American rounds hindered by punctures and the maligned group qualifying format thats designed to hurt the championship frontrunners.

Venturi, meanwhile, enjoyed arguably the greatest-ever weekend performance from one of its drivers. Mortara was a deserved podium finisher in Puebla before panting his way round in the high altitude to victory the following day. It was the strongest double-header result that any driver turned in during the season and lifted the two-time Macau Grand Prix winner atop the points.

De Vries would fight back with two second place finishes in London before the title would be decided in his favour in the Berlin finale, with Mortara eliminated at the start when he careered unsighted into the rear of Evans’ Jaguar, which had failed on the grid.

Despite the unsavoury end of Mortara's campaign, he still completed the Wolff 1-2 and Nato gave Venturi its second win of the year. Even in the context of Mercedes never having lost a drivers’ or teams’ F1 title since 2014, it registered highly for Toto.

He says: "In a way, you get into a little bit of a routine of seeing celebrations. I don't mean that in an arrogant way because a podium is always something special. But when I saw Susie up there for the winning trophy, that was something quite emotional from a personal standpoint. I was lucky enough to see her standing there on her own merit and it was something that we can be very proud of.

Mercedes also clinched the 2021 Formula E Teams' Championship on the day de Vries won the Drivers' crown in Berlin

Photo by: Motorsport Images

"All these last years when there was a lot of praise for our Formula 1 success, that was a real moment of pride and joy. And I enjoyed [watching Susie on the podium] more than if I would have stood there. But obviously, what makes it so perfect is that we finished 1-2 in the Formula E World Championship.”

In the days that followed, the Wolffs took time out for a short getaway - Toto using the F1 summer shutdown and Susie making the most of the Formula E off-season. Otherwise, celebrations might best be described as muted.

Toto says: "That Sunday evening in Berlin was busy in so far as we had our four-year-old son in the holiday place, and we were rushing back. Susie and I made it as promised for a late dinner, which we did in his pyjamas at nine o'clock. So, the celebration was like always in the last 10 years: a quiet one between Susie and I.”

There was, however, the bombshell three days later when Mercedes announced it will quit Formula E at the end of 2022. The Toto that was speaking to journalists in Berlin ahead of the announcement very much had his Merc cap on. But away from the track, he's been donning his financial investor hat. Toto is leading the quest for new ownership that could lead to a sale of the race team, with its key personnel wanting to continue for the Gen3 era the season after.

PLUS: The problems laid bare by Mercedes' impending Formula E departure

He says: "I have a responsibility towards all the people in the project. That's also why there was no shot from the hip in terms of terminating our engagement immediately, but instead giving it a full season and a lot of time to come up with the right solution.

"We have a team thats just been able to win the world championship in its second year, and we have already seen considerable interest for the structure and for its success and know how.

"I believe we can find a solution for our entry, for our team to go forward with a new group of shareholders that will be carrying the baton.”

Toto is working to keep the current Mercedes team in Formula E into the Gen-3 era and continue its partnership with Susie's Venturi squad

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Venturi, already feeling the windfall of its own new ownership on the eve of the 2021 season, will remain committed to Formula E for Gen3. But there's unlikely to be a full circle where it will come to supply powertrains to whatever guise the current Mercedes squad takes next.

In her three years at the helm, Susie has taken Venturi from a name most associated with left-field supercars of the 1990s to being an established race team with commercial appeal that has attracted title sponsorship.

She says of her tenure to date: "It's been quite a journey. It was always an initial three-year plan in my head to bring the team forward. There were some very big, tough moments on the way.

"Some were visible, because obviously we had a poor season last year on track, but also off track, getting the team to where it is now, the structure, getting the right people on board. I'm incredibly lucky to work with such good people in the team.

"They've really given it their all and we've developed. Its been a transformation of a team, which sometimes showed promise but now have really established themselves. That makes me very proud."

"By showing what's possible running with a partner team and having four cars, double the learning going into a new technical regulation, I think it puts us in a very strong position. Everyone's seen what is possible when you have two teams sharing data, working together" Susie Wolff

A boosted reputation gives Venturi the leverage to open discussions regarding a new powertrain. The success and transparency of its customer relationship with Mercedes is to be seen as a potential boon to any new partner.

"Through our performances this season, but also by showing what's possible running with a partner team and having four cars, double the learning going into a new technical regulation, I think it puts us in a very strong position," says Susie. "Everyone's seen what is possible when you have two teams sharing data, working together."

If both scenarios come to pass - Venturi remaining as an attractive customer partner and the sale of the Mercedes team going ahead - there is the possibility for the Wolffs to replicate their drivers championship 1-2 next season and beyond. But if it doesn't transpire again, it will remain a one-off historic achievement for motorsport's power couple, who treat it with immense satisfaction.

Susie and Toto Wolff

Photo by: Motorsport Images