Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was a hot topic at the beginning of the 2024 Formula 1 season, right when it was announced by the Prancing Horse with a brief statement, but it’s resurfacing with the end of the season and the arrival of 2025, when the seven-time world champion’s contract with the Maranello team will become effective.
Regarding this, Toto Wolff has spoken again. The Mercedes team principal spoke on the High Performance podcast, revealing various details about the days that convinced Lewis Hamilton to leave Mercedes after 12 years to embrace the final adventure of his Formula 1 career with Ferrari.
“I heard the first rumors two weeks before it was made official. Sainz‘s father, Carlos, told me. He called me and told me what was happening. Later, I received several calls from drivers’ fathers, and that hadn’t happened before. So I thought: ‘Okay… Something is happening.'”
“Then, at that point, I sent a message to Fred Vasseur saying: ‘Are you taking one of our drivers?’ I didn’t receive any response. And that’s very unusual for Fred, because he’s a good friend. At that point, I saw things happening.”
Wolff then spoke about Hamilton’s visit to his home: “When Lewis arrived, as happened several years ago, we talked a bit about the Christmas holidays, as we’ve done for some time.”
“Then I said: ‘Well, we’re taking people from Ferrari. We’ve taken Simone Resta.’ And Lewis replied: ‘Oh, there’s something I have to tell you.’ And yes, when he told me, at first it was like… But is all this really happening?”
“Of course, I’ve had much worse things in my life, real dramas and traumas. What happened here didn’t unsettle anything. It’s just a new situation with risks and opportunities. Risks in the sense, you know, the sponsors, I would have to tell them about Lewis’s departure. And then, who would we choose for the 2025 season?”
“I believe that if someone decides to leave, we have to let them go,” Toto Wolff continued about the approach he used to manage Lewis’s departure. “I had a conversation with Pep Guardiola (Manchester City’s coach, editor’s note) some time ago. He’s a friend. I asked him: ‘What do you do when a player decides to leave the team you’re coaching?’ And he answered: ‘What do you mean, what do I do?’ I said: ‘Well, do you try to convince that player to stay on your team?'”
“Pep replied: ‘No, if someone thinks they can play elsewhere, you have to let them go, plain and simple.’ And that’s an approach I’ve also adopted here. If someone wants to leave, you then have to let them go and make sure it’s a good thing for all parties involved,” Toto Wolff concluded.
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