Toto Wolff says Hamilton exit was “a curve ball thrown at us”

© Mercedes-Benz Group AG

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he didn’t want to make a decision of “letting the greatest champion ever go”.

When it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would leave Mercedes at the end of 2024, to go to Ferrari, the whole Formula 1 world was in shock.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he was shocked as well.

“It was a curve ball thrown at us, and it still feels weird that he’s gonna wear Ferrari overalls and drive the red car,” Wolff told the ‘Armchair Experts with Dax Shepard’ podcast.

“It’s just a bit surreal. But, we had this 17-year-old in the pipeline [Kimi Antonelli]. I didn’t want to miss out on him, like I did with Max [Verstappen] back in the day. I didn’t have a car [good enough for Max back then], so that is all falling into place.

“And I can kind of get where [Lewis is] coming from, because we weren’t successful. Our car was not quick enough.


If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!



“Certainly he had a mega offer on the table, every Formula 1 driver wants to drive a Ferrari.”

Asked whether he was relieved that Lewis made the decision to leave, therefore sparing him from having to possibly make the decision to let him go later down the line, Toto replied:

“Absolutely. I couldn’t make the decision from a personal standpoint – we owe him so much. And I didn’t want to do the decision, as Mercedes, letting the greatest champion ever go.

“Maybe he felt that also, that’s part of it, and he knew that Antonelli was in the pipeline.

“It was something that I almost had in the back of my mind, that that would happen,” Wolff concluded.

Follow us on X @SilverArrowsNet and like us on Facebook!

Comments are closed.