Toto Wolff: My son is going through a tough school in karting.

      Jack Wolff, the son of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, is only 9 years old, but he is already making his first successes in karting – competing in the IAME junior championship and has opened his account for victories this year. His parents, Toto and Susie Wolff, often attend the races in which Jack participates, and since both are experienced professionals in motorsport, they can clearly see how their son is progressing.

      In today's world, nurturing racing talent has become a serious endeavor; Formula 1 teams, including Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren, have long had youth programs that include young karting drivers. "I think it's too early to talk about it, he's only 9 years old," Wolff commented in an interview with RacingNews365. "You know, some Formula 1 teams are looking for young talents; for example, we took in 11-year-old Nicolo Perricco because he has already won several championships.

      As we can see, Red Bull has drivers who are 11-12 years old, and Cadillac has a 10-year-old karting driver. You could say that the future belongs to these drivers... Speaking of Jack, there are pros and cons to his situation. The advantage is that his parents know the world of motorsport, and we have good connections. The downside is that he becomes a sort of target for his peers.

      Everyone wants to outpace Jack, everyone wants to knock him off the track, partly because he is the youngest. But right now, this is toughening his character. In terms of skill level, he needs to surpass everyone. Only then will he be able to prove that he has achieved everything completely deservedly.

      But for now, he doesn't understand this yet, as he is only 9 years old. For now, he simply thinks he has to fight harder than everyone else. At one of the races, he told me that in the team he was competing against, there were six drivers, while in his team – he was alone. Jack then said, "Dad, I can outpace three of them, but when all six work together, it's hard to beat them." In general, right now, my son is going through a tough school.

      Of course, we can create conditions for him that other parents cannot provide for their children – both because they don't understand motorsport, and because they can't afford such expenses, or because they don't know how to organize everything properly."