People

Wolfgang Schattling

The Mercedes-Benz Motorsport public relations officer Wolfgang Schattling used to be a school teacher but one day decided to give up his profession and try to make a living in the more exciting world of Grand Prix racing.

Schattling's passion for the sport dates back to when he was 10 and his family moved from the Rhineland area, near Karlsruhe, to a small village in the Eifel mountains called Wimbach. This picturesque spot is not far from the Adenau Forst section of the old Nurburgring racing circuit and it was here that Schattling saw his very first motor race - the 1961 German Grand Prix. That day Schattling was cheering for Ferrari driver Wolfgang von Trips but it was Stirling Moss in a Lotus who won the race.

At the next Grand Prix, at Monza, Wolfgang von Trips was killed but Schattling's passion for motor racing meant that throughout his schooldays he spent most of his weekend free time at the Nurburgring, watching races and getting to know rising stars.

When he left school he trained to become a teacher in English and History and, once qualified, taught in secondary schools. His racing activities led to a few small PR jobs with young German drivers and the occasional journalistic work for German specialist magazines. In the mid-1980s he wrote to Autosport magazine in London, asking if they were looking for a German correspondent and was given the job. This led to other freelance work around the world and as his journalistic career flourished occasional jobs with Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

In 1990 a vacancy arose in the department and Norbert Haug asked Wolfgang to join the team. It was a big decision, however, as German civil servants rarely leave their jobs which have an extraordinary degree of security and generous pensions.

In the end Wolfgang decided that it would be better to combine his hobby with his profession and joined the Mercedes team, working initially on the sportscar program and then in F1 with Sauber and, since 1995, with McLaren.