Racing Point Formula 1 chief Otmar Szafnauer doubts Toto Wolff will become involved with the team when it becomes Aston Martin next year despite his investment in the manufacturer.
Aston Martin will return to F1 with a works team in 2021 after Racing Point team owner Lawrence Stroll took a stake in the British road car manufacturer in January.
Mercedes F1 team principal Wolff made a personal investment in Aston Martin earlier this month worth 0.95% of the company.
Wolff remains committed to his role heading up Mercedes’ F1 operations, saying “nothing will change in the short term” as he remains in talks over extending his contract with the German marque.
Racing Point CEO Szafnauer said he was “absolutely” happy to see Wolff become involved in Aston Martin, but does not anticipate the Austrian having any involvement with the F1 team, which is a separate company.
“He’s done an amazing job at Mercedes, but I can’t see him having a stake in our team for example,” Szafnauer told Sky Sports.
“The road car company, having shares in that is completely different than having shares in a loss-making Formula 1 team.”
Szafnauer said he was yet to talk to Wolff about his investment in Aston Martin, but that he presumed it was a sensible business decision.
“I haven’t spoken to him in six or seven weeks since the Australian Grand Prix. I’ve seen him on a couple of these Zoom calls, but I haven’t asked him that question,” Szafnauer said.
“But knowing Toto like I do, I think he’s absolutely right, it was a good time to buy if you look at the share price and the trend.
“Toto’s pretty smart at that stuff, I think he’s made a little bit of money in these type of things, and I wouldn’t doubt what he says. I think he’s absolutely right, good time to buy.”
Aston Martin has stressed its rebrand of the Racing Point team is still going ahead in 2021 despite concerns about the financial future of the company raised earlier this month.
The full story of Racing Point’s transformation from near-collapse to its upcoming Aston Martin era – as well as the team’s firm defence of the RP20’s legality – is included in this week’s issue of Autosport magazine, which is available in shops and online.