© Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Toto Wolff discusses how Lewis Hamilton’s exit will impact the dynamics with George Russell, and the sharing of technical information.
Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of 2024, however, he still has one more year to race with the team.
This, of course, will create many challenges, one of those is the dynamic between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says nothing will change,
“I think what I’ve always tried to do as a team principal, and all of us at Mercedes, is to be transparent and fair, and nothing’s going to change in that respect in 2024,” the Austrian said.
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
“We owe it to our principles and our racing intent, how we go about, and we will respect that. And I will be sure that the drivers will respect it.”
Another hurdle will be the sharing of technical information on Mercedes’ 2025 car. Since Lewis will be leaving, the team obviously doesn’t want him to have thorough knowledge of the new car before he leaves for Ferrari.
Wolff explains how the team will deal with this.
“In terms of the development going forward, I think this is something which we need to look at. The regulations stay pretty much the same, and when it comes to 2025, we will evaluate later in the season what it means in terms of technical information.
“But that’s not something that bothers me at all. We have engineers that leave us and go to other teams and the notice periods are sometimes as short as six months. So I don’t have any doubt in Lewis’ integrity, in terms of sharing information.
“And in that respect, we want to make sure that this is a successful season for both drivers, and a successful season for Mercedes, and all of us will give our utmost to achieve that.”
Toto added he enjoys the challenge of managing this situation.
“Definitely a new situation to manage, for followers of the team, but it is something that when you focus on the really short term, and this is the racing team that’s being deployed to run the product, that doesn’t have a big impact on everything that’s happening going forward on the development side.
“I’m always interested in new and challenging situations, and balancing 2024 Mercedes interests versus 2025 driver interests is something that we will openly discuss at the beginning, how to manage that, and for sure come to a good outcome between us,” Wolff concluded.
