Wolff says Alain Prost conversation shaped his approach to managing Mercedes drivers

An encounter with Alain Prost when Toto Wolff was a Formula 1 rookie helped shape his approach to managing Mercedes’ drivers: Wolff says he has tried to deal with them even-handedly and communicate openly.

Wolff recalled meeting Prost on a race grid and asking why things had gone wrong between Prost and Ayrton Senna at McLaren. In Wolff’s retelling, Prost said a driver could be unsure whether the team was behind him: one month he might feel favoured, then two months later believe team politics were against him.

Wolff said that explanation became a personal challenge to keep his own approach balanced. He said it was difficult during Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes partnership, which ran from 2013 to 2016.

Kimi Antonelli held a 102-point lead over George Russell in the 2026 drivers’ championship, a gap that had fuelled online debate over whether Mercedes favoured him. Asked about the allegation, Wolff rejected it and said the team treats both drivers equally. He said Mercedes has had Antonelli since he was 11, while Russell has been part of its set-up since he was 17. Wolff described his relationship with Russell as close and said they spend time together away from the track.