Mercedes’ ninth constructors’ title puts Toto Wolff level with Sir Frank Williams

Mercedes ended its four-year wait for a Constructors’ Championship at the 2026 São Paulo Grand Prix, where George Russell and Kimi Antonelli finished fourth and fifth to secure the team’s ninth title. The result took team principal Toto Wolff to nine constructors’ titles, level with Sir Frank Williams.

Wolff’s management career in Formula 1 began at Williams as an investor in 2009. Before that, he had raced in Austrian Formula Ford, won a class at the 1994 Nürburgring 24 Hours and competed in the FIA GT Championship in 2004; he was also building a business career. He became Williams’ executive director in 2012.

In February 2013, he joined Mercedes as managing partner, taking a 30% stake in its Formula 1 operation. The team finished second in the constructors’ championship that year with three wins. The turbo-hybrid rules transformed the order in 2014: Mercedes won 16 of 19 Grands Prix and its first constructors’ title, while Lewis Hamilton claimed his second drivers’ championship.

Mercedes then won eight consecutive constructors’ titles from 2014 to 2021, a record. Its streak ended in 2022 as new ground-effect regulations changed the competitive landscape. Across the four seasons from 2022 to 2025, the team won only five Grands Prix; Wolff remained at the helm.

After Hamilton left for Ferrari at the end of 2024, Wolff promoted Kimi Antonelli alongside George Russell. Earlier in 2026, Antonelli won the drivers’ title at the Mexico City Grand Prix, aged 20, becoming Formula 1’s youngest world champion.

After the São Paulo race, Wolff told Sky Sports he had never thought matching Williams’s title tally was possible and recalled his close relationship with Frank.