Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton's Expiry Date

We've definitely been learning a lot recently about the departure of Lewis Hamilton. In the latest episode of the podcast High Performance, Toto wolff had indeed returned to the departure decided in February of its seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, the Englishman having decided to join the Team Ferrari. At the time, the Austrian team boss explained that he had learned it from Lewis Hamilton just days before the news was released to the world.

Although he did not go back on his words, Toto this time clarified that he had heard of this information two weeks before, thanks in particular to a certain... Carlos Sainz Sr. "I heard the bells ringing two weeks before", Wolff said in the latest episode of the podcast High Performance. "Sainz Sr called me and said, 'This is what's happening'. Then a few riders' dads called me who hadn't called me before. I thought, 'There's something going on.'"

Wolff regretted timing of Hamilton's departure

And to continue. "I then sent a message to Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, to say: 'Are you taking our driver?' I didn't get a response. That's very unusual from Fred. He's a good friend. So yes, I saw it coming.". In a book published by author Matt Whyman titled « Inside Mercedes F1 : Life in the Fast Lane », Toto Wolff also returned to the episode of Lewis' departure, addressing more of what he himself felt.

Russell and Hamilton, three years of collaboration. ©DPPI

"I fully expected Lewis to leave," he said straight away. “I just didn’t understand why he was changing teams before we even knew if we were going to be competitive. It didn’t give me time to react, I had to call our partners urgently, and I may have missed negotiations with other riders who had signed contracts a few weeks earlier, like Charles Leclerc et Lando Norris » 

For context, Lewis Hamilton had extended his contract by two years at Mercedes, just six months before the announcement of his signing at Ferrari. A commitment that we learned was ultimately for one year plus another as an option. If a two-year dry deal would have protected him from the departure of his star, Toto Wolff has no regrets on the matter, on the contrary, even…

Hamilton's age in question?

"There's a reason we only signed a one-year deal. We're in a sport where cognitive acuity is extremely important, and I think everyone has an expiration date." he slipped, in remarks that should get people talking. Lewis Hamilton will be 40 next January, and the Briton, although still very competitive on certain weekends (like at Silverstone this year), is about to be beaten on points for the second time in three years of collaboration by his teammate George Russell.

"So I have to be interested in the next generation, continues Wolff. It's the same in football. Managers like Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola anticipated this in the performances of their best players and brought in junior players who took the team forward for the next few years." he said, referring to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, an 18-year-old in whom he has placed his trust for 2025.

"I like the situation", added Wolff. "It helps us because it avoids the moment when we have to tell the most iconic rider in the history of the discipline that we want to stop." Marketing animal and fan-favorite driver, Lewis Hamilton will inevitably be missed by the brand with the star. The latter will now have to learn to live without the man who joined the adventure in 2013.

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