Willi Weber (Manager)

Wilhelm Friedrich "Willi" Weber (born March 11, 1942 in Regensburg ) is a German entrepreneur, sports manager and former racing car driver . The former car dealer, restaurateur and racing team operator specialized in the global representation of the interests of celebrities and athletes - mainly from the automotive sector . In addition to Michael Schumacher (until 2010), his best-known clients included his brother Ralf (until 2006), Timo Scheider , Jutta Kleinschmidt , Nico Hülkenberg (until 2011) and top model Naomi Campbell .

Career

Weber discovered his business acumen as a teenager and traded in worn-out army uniforms. After completing an apprenticeship in hotel management, he first built up a used car trade before turning back to the catering and hotel industry, where he gradually worked his way up from being a simple clerk to being a manager.

Formula 3 racing team, meeting Michael Schumacher

In 1983 the amateur racing driver founded the Formula 3 racing team WTS ( Weber-Trella Stuttgart ) together with the engineer Klaus Trella . In 1988 his driver and pupil Joachim Winkelhock became German champion. In autumn of the same year he met the young driver and Formula Ford vice-champion Michael Schumacher during a talent search on the Austrian Salzburgring , where he was looking for a successor to Winkelhock , and was immediately convinced of his above-average abilities. Weber hired Schumacher as a pilot for his Formula 3 team, even though he did not bring any financial means. In return, he took over his management, tied Schumacher to himself for ten years and demanded 20 percent of the potential income of the racing driver so that his risk would pay off. The German press later made it the nickname “Mr. 20 percent " .

At the end of the 1980s, Weber ran more than twenty bars in Germany in addition to his Formula 3 racing team, but had to worry more and more about the needs of his protégé Schumacher, who became German Formula 3 champion in 1990 with WTS. Weber financed Schumacher's entry into professional motorsport and brought him into Formula 1 with Jordan in the late summer of 1991 . Over the next few years, Michael Schumacher became the most successful driver in Formula 1 history with seven world championship titles and 91 Grand Prix victories and earned an estimated half a billion euros until his temporary retirement in 2006 .

After Michael Schumacher's comeback in the 2010 season , Weber handed over the management tasks to Schumacher's former media consultant Sabine Kehm after more than 20 years of cooperation .

Weber's protégé: Nico Hülkenberg 2006 in the A1GP series

A1 Team Germany

In autumn 2005 Weber founded the A1 Team Germany for the newly created A1GP series. In its second season , the team with drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Christian Vietoris became champions with a total of nine wins. However, Weber ended his involvement in the series in September 2008, so that the team could not participate at the start of the season in October and only reappeared later in the season under new management.

Intermezzo as a racing driver

In 1984 Weber started a single race in the German Touring Car Championship in a VW Scirocco . The 16th place at the Nürburgring earned him 6 points, which meant 46th place in the overall classification. Between 1985 and 1986 Weber competed in the German Formula 3 Championship . In the first year he drove a Ralt RT3 with a Volkswagen engine used by Team Sonax Autopflege and McGregor Racing Team and finished 24th with three points, and in the second year for Team Bössinger Tresorbauwerke he had no points. In 1987 Weber was able to score a point in two races in the EFDA Formula 3 Euro Series for WTS Racing . There were no further missions.

Infidelity charges

On July 17, 2007, Weber was charged by the Koblenz public prosecutor's office for inciting embezzlement in a particularly serious case. In 2001, he is said to have induced the Dierdorf-based company Pole Position Merchandising (PPM) to carry out financial transactions in which a large number of creditors were cheated for a total of 1.1 million euros . At the trial on September 29, 2008 Weber admitted his guilt and was thereupon sentenced by the Koblenz Regional Court to one year probation and a fine of 720,000 euros. In addition, on September 16, 2008, he was charged with embezzlement and willful bankruptcy in connection with the PPM bankruptcy by the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office. In August 2010, Weber was due Insolvenzverschleppung condemned by the Stuttgart Regional Court to two years probation and ordered to pay 360,000 euros to charities and to the insolvency of one of its companies.

gastronomy

In 1999 Weber opened his gourmet restaurant Weber's Gourmet in the tower in the Stuttgart TV tower as a passionate restaurateur , but ended this project again after a few years.

Web links

• Weber's career on Die Zeit | Zeit Online

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tiger Woods becomes the first sports billionaire. Welt Online , July 12, 2008, accessed February 4, 2009 . 
2. ↑ Schumacher distances himself from Entdecker Weber , Welt.de of March 10, 2010; Accessed August 6, 2010
3. ↑ Schumacher is restructuring his management ( memento of the original from March 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Formel1.de of March 2, 2010; Accessed August 6, 2010 
4. ↑ 1987 season formel3guide.de
5. ↑ Statistics on driverdb.com
6. ↑ Suspected infidelity: Schumacher manager accused. Focus Online , July 15, 2007; accessed January 14, 2009 . 
7. ↑ Infidelity in the millions - Schumi's manager condemned. n-tv Online , September 29, 2008, accessed September 29, 2008 . 
8. ^ Ex-Schumacher manager Weber condemned , RTL-News, accessed August 5, 2010