Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says he “likes” that Lewis Hamilton chose to leave the team to join Ferrari as it prevented him from having to get rid of the seven-time world champion at a later date.
Hamilton stunned the sporting world on the eve of the 2024 season by confirming it would be his last with Mercedes as he signed a multi-year deal to join the iconic Italian squad.
Wolff admitted at the time that he had been blindsided by the move – which will bring to an end the most successful driver-team partnership in the sport’s history – but says concerns over Hamilton’s “shelf life” meant the prospect of having to force the Briton out of the team was already on his mind.
With just three races remaining of Hamilton’s 12th and final season with the team, Wolff’s comments have been reported in Mercedes’ new all-access book Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane, which followed the team through their turbulent 2023 campaign and the start of 2024.
“I absolutely had it on my radar that Lewis would go,” Wolff told the book’s author Matt Whyman.
“I just couldn’t understand why he’d change to another team before we knew if we were going to be competitive.
“It also didn’t give me any time to react, I had to emergency call our partners, and I possibly missed out on negotiating with other drivers who had signed contracts a few weeks earlier like Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.
“[But] I like the situation. It helps us because it avoids the moment where we need to tell the sport’s most iconic driver that we want to stop.”
Hamilton’s decision caught many by surprise given it came just five months after he had signed what was publicised as a two-year contract extension with Mercedes, which was later revealed to have had a break clause following the first year.
Wolff said the fact there was a break clause open to both driver and team shows Mercedes were already open to the idea of Hamilton’s exit coming sooner rather than later.
“There’s a reason why we only signed a one-plus-one-year contract,” Wolff added.
“We’re in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important, and I believe everyone has a shelf life.”
Wolff initially made a public and persistent pursuit of Red Bull’s soon-to-be-crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen, but eventually settled for replacing Hamilton with Italian teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The Austrian compared the task of replacing Hamilton to those Premier League greats Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola have faced when regenerating their title-winning squads.
“I need to look at the next generation,” Wolff said.
“It’s the same in football. Managers like Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola. They anticipated it in the performance of their top stars and brought in junior players that drove the team for the next years.”
The release of the book comes just days after Mercedes insisted they fully expect Hamilton to see out his final three races with the team, after cryptic radio messages following the Sao Paulo Grand Prix led to speculation over a possible early exit.
Hamilton has struggled with his form since the sport’s summer break, failing to claim a podium in the last seven rounds after a run of two wins in three races in July.
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