F1 News
How did Hamilton cause a headache to Wolff? 'I missed out there'
After the last three Grands Prix of the 2024 season, Lewis Hamilton will not longer be a Mercedes driver. Team principal and CEO Toto Wolff says he understands the seven-time world champion's decision to join Ferrari.
Recalling the moment Hamilton informed him that he wants to leave after the 2024 season, the Austrian states, "I like the situation. It helps us because it avoids the moment where we need to tell the sport's most iconic driver that we want to stop," Wolff explained, underlining Hamilton received a one-plus-one contract in the first place.
Wolff sees 'everyone has a shelf life'
"We're in a sport where cognitive sharpness is expremely important, and I believe everyone has a shelf life," drawing a comparison to football. The team principal cited Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola as examples about bringing younger players in to their squad replacing stars.
"I absolutely had it on my radar that Lewis would go. I just couldn't understand why he'd change to another team before we knew if we were going to be competitive. It also didn't give me any time to react. I possibly missed out on negotiating with other drivers who had signed contracts a few weeks earlier like Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris," the team principal explained.
"But do I take that personally? This was a business decision. We've enjoyed such a successful journey together, and now we have our own objectives. This didn't even move the needle for me. I'm thick-skinned," he concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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