After twelve years of enormous success, marked by fourteen titles (six drivers’ and eight constructors’), Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will go separate ways at the end of the season.
While the seven-time Formula One world champion has accepted what will likely be his final major career challenge with Ferrari, the Brackley-based team, still led by Toto Wolff, has decided to focus on the immense talent of the newly eighteen-year-old Kimi Antonelli, who, like George Russell, is a product of the Mercedes academy.
Before Kimi Antonelli’s official announcement, which came at the same time as the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit last September, there had been months of speculation about a potential move for Max Verstappen to Brackley. Given the internal crisis at Red Bull following the sexual scandal involving Christian Horner at the beginning of 2024, the conditions for the deal seemed to be there at one point.
Despite the dissatisfaction expressed by the Dutch driver and the temptation to replace a seven-time world champion with another absolute star, Toto Wolff still preferred to take a gamble, with all the uncertainties and risks that come with it.
A duo born and raised in Mercedes
“It’s natural to move on to the next generation,” said the Austrian on the High Performance podcast, explaining the reasons why Mercedes decided not to pursue Max Verstappen.
“Max is a great driver and an interesting personality. God only knows what will happen in the future. But having Kimi and George in the car, both raised in-house, true Mercedes juniors who have given their best at every stage of their careers and whom we’ve supported. I’m looking forward to experiencing this situation.”
On paper, the most logical solution would have been to replace one world champion with another of the same level, but Toto Wolff insisted: “Now I’m going towards the new generations.”
“The difficulty I faced at the beginning, when I joined Mercedes, was that Lewis Hamilton was a superstar. And he was older than me in Formula 1, not by age but by experience. In a way, over the years, this situation has balanced out quite well. We respect each other for what we do, we respect each other’s friends.” – he pointed out.
“But Valtteri’s generation was managed by me when he was very young, in 2008. He was a kid and grew up in the system. The same goes for George. I met George 10 years ago when he was 17. He was our protégé, our ‘son,’ and now he’s the most experienced driver. The same goes for Kimi, whom I met when he was 11. This reminds you how much you’re aging. But it’s not a problem, in fact, I’m happy about it. I have fewer years of hard work ahead of me than I have behind me.” – the Mercedes team principal concluded.
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