21 December 2023 , 06:00
745
0
Toto Wolff named three reasons why he doesn't follow Lewis Hamilton in having a social media presence.
For many top-level athletes, it is important to have a strong online presence and Hamilton has that part nailed down. On Instagram alone, he has more than 35 million followers and so a massive audience to which he can speak directly.
And he regularly uses it. But his boss, Mercedes team principal Wolff, is conspicuous by his absence on such platforms - and has several strong reasons why that is the case.
The topic was brought up when the Austrian took part in a fan question and answer session. In a video of the interview, released by the team, Wolff explained why he has resisted the temptation to sign up.
"For me, having official Instagram channels or Twitter would be super distracting," he said. "I'm also an emotional person, so that would not be beneficial if I were to post things! I also believe that as a team principal, I'm running an F1 team and I don't believe that having an Instagram profile makes any sense.
Sebastian Vettel warns of looming F1 ban and is "very worried about the future"
"I'm not keen on taking selfies of myself or posing for the camera. Sports people or entertainment stars need to do that because it's their profile. And, therefore, no, these channels are nothing for me."
Pressed on his public persona in interviews, he added: "The standard I try to live to professionally and in my personal life is being authentic. Sometimes that comes across maybe as emotional or negative, but in the moment I don't want to change my face just because I'm speaking to the media. That's how I am."
Just because he has resisted joining social media until now, though, it does not mean Wolff will be staying away forever. After all, Sebastian Vettel vowed for years that he was not interested - but last year popped up with an Instagram account out of nowhere.
Clearly, there was a purpose to that move and it was soon obvious why - he used a video on the platform to announce his planned retirement from F1. But he has posted more than 200 times on that account since and amassed three million followers over the last 18 months since he created it.
And other team principals have used the platform. Wolff's Red Bull rival Christian Horner has been present on Instagram for years and has posted almost a thousand times, while Wolff's former colleague James Vowles, now Williams boss, is a relative newcomer having signed up this year.