© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explained why Lewis Hamilton’s contract had and ‘escape clause’, which allowed him to go to Ferrari in 2025.
The world was surprised when it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would leave Mercedes at the end of 2024, to join Ferrari in 2025.
Lewis had just signed a new two-year deal with Mercedes back in August of 2023, and everybody was expecting him to stay with the team at least until the end of 2025.
However, it was later revealed that it was actually a 1+1 contract, which allowed both parties to get out of the deal after one year.
Lewis ultimately activated this clause and decided to move to Ferrari in 2025.
In a talk with ORF, ahead of the first race of the 2024 season, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explained his thinking behind this type of contract.
“There was a situation many years ago where we had the opportunity to let Max [Verstappen] drive,” the Austrian said.
“And that wasn’t possible back then because we simply didn’t have a cockpit. Rosberg and Hamilton were tied to us long-term, and Red Bull naturally seized the opportunity.
“They gave him a contract with Toro Rosso, with the possibility of driving for Red Bull the following year.
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“We then lost the young driver, and you can see how successful he has become.
“And precisely because we have a junior on the horizon who is really driving at a very high level, I simply wanted to keep this option open.”
The junior in question is Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will be competing in Formula 2 in 2024.
However, Wolff says this does not guarantee that Antonelli will get a Mercedes seat in 2025.
“That does not mean that we will actually put Antonelli in the car next year,” he explained.
“He is 17 years old, and that might be a bit early. But with a view to the next five or ten years, I just wanted to have this option.
“In a way, he’s a wonderkid. He won everything there was to win in karting and then moved into F4.
“He won all the championships in his rookie year, then moved up a level and won everything there too.”
“Now we’ve decided to skip F3, partly because there’s not much time to test there. Instead, he’ll go straight into F2, which is a huge leap for him.
“These are really big cars with power. Most of the races are part of the F1-supporting programme, so we’ll have a good overview there too.”
Toto also confirmed Antonelli will get to test out the Mercedes W15 this year.
“We’ll run a big test programme with him in 2024 and then we’ll see. Is he ready for 2025? Or for 2026, will there be a different situation?”
As for which driver will Mercedes pick for 2025, Wolff explained he will review the situation “over the next two or three races”.
“Do we want to rely on experience and perhaps try something new? Or do we want to focus on youth and take the risk that we have a rookie and then have to look at this from a medium- to long-term performance perspective?” the Austrian concluded.
