Mercedes Formula One team leader and co-owner Toto Wolff has revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 and had to retire in Austria this month but is now out of quarantine.
The 49-year-old told Austrian ORF television in an interview at World Cup Kitzbuehel Alpine skiing downhill that he had no symptoms.
“We were supposed to be here for a few days and out of this place I got an advanced corona test,” Austff Wolff said. “But everything is fine … it could have gone bad, but we’re out of quarantine.”
Five Formula One drivers, including seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus. So too is Aston team owner Martin Lawrence Stroll and Williams principal Simon Roberts.
One-third of Wolff’s Mercedes team is an equal partner with petrochemicals from Ineos and parent company Daimler AG.
Austria’s current focus is on agreeing a new deal with Hamilton, which has been out of contract since the end of last year and marked its 36th anniversary this month.
Wolff said the lawyers were diligent, requiring a contract to be in place before a pre-season trial could be conducted in Bahrain in March.
The season begins at the Bahrain tour at Sakhir on March 28th.
“We don’t make life easy for them, of course, when we both argue about Zoom and keep sending puppies to the lawyers,” Wolff said.
“He is in America now and I am here. At some point we will end (the agreement).
“We have a really strong foundation in our relationship. We have celebrated great success together and we want to continue to do that in the future. But sometimes you have to talk things through in detail, and that or it will still take some time. “