© Paul Ripke for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recalls “the moment when people stop telling” him and Lewis Hamilton “what to do”.
Lewis Hamilton is known for his many interests outside of Formula 1. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has for a long time had a “pact” with the Briton, where he allows him to indulge in his other activities, as long as he continues to perform on the track.
This received a lot of criticism from journalists and pundits, and it all came to a head in the week leading up to the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix.
After racing at Monza, Lewis immediately travelled to his home in Monaco, then flew to the unveiling of his fashion collection in Shanghai, then returned to Europe and attended a friend’s wedding in Italy, then attended another event in New York, and then arrived to Singapore for the grand prix weekend.
While many were criticising Wolff for allowing Lewis to do this, the Briton went on to take a dominant pole and a commanding race win. After the race, Toto silenced the critics.
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“It’s six years I have heard: ‘How can you allow Lewis to get off and fly around the world?’,” the Austrian said.
“You know what? He did it to his most extreme in the last 10 days, he loved it, he was in Shanghai on the catwalk, he was in New York a couple of days later.
“He came here, rock and roll, and blew everybody away. Let’s just be non-judgemental and allow everybody to judge how they perform best.
“He knows best what’s good for him,” Toto concluded at the time.
Now, during his appearance in Sky Sports’ “Secrets of Success” documentary, Wolff again recalled this situation.
“Lewis is a friend of mine and his drive to be creative and successful in the fashion industry is something I permitted from the beginning,” he said.
“Because we have that pact – he performs. On that particular week I remember we were sitting with the engineers and he was FaceTiming me.
“He was saying: ‘Can you believe that I’m on the catwalk in Shanghai launching my own collection? Thank you for letting me do this.’
“I saw the happiness in his face and I knew that when he’s going to come to Singapore he’s going to be on it because he’s in a good space.
“He came late and then I had a press conference and all the journalists were all over me saying it’s not professional to miss the first meetings. I just smiled.
“In qualifying he put in a lap that was unseen. On Sunday he took the lead and disappeared into the distance and was never seen.
“That is the moment when people stop telling me and telling him what to do,” Wolff concluded.
