“I heard the bells ringing two weeks before” : Toto Wolff reveals the moment he came to know Lewis Hamilton is leaving Mercedes for Ferrari
While the rumors surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari were already present back in previous seasons, in the end they were just rumors, as nobody thought that the Briton would switch teams, that too at his age.
We all know how the announcement of Hamilton joining the Prancing Horses broke the internet, but it was recently revealed that not even Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff had much of an idea about this movie, as he came to know just a few weeks before the public as well, and not in the best of ways.
On the ‘High Performance Podcast’, Toto Wolff explained that he did not get to know about the news from Lewis Hamilton himself, but outgoing Ferrari man’s father, Carlos Sainz Sr., two weeks before the Briton attempted to break the news.
“I heard the bells ringing two weeks before [Lewis told me the news]. The old man Sainz called me and said, ‘This is what’s happening’.” Wolff said.
“And then there were a few drivers that rang me up that didn’t before, so I thought, ‘Okay, there’s something going on there’. I sent a text to [Ferrari boss] Fred Vasseur saying, ‘You’re taking our driver?’ – didn’t get any response, very unusual for Fred, he’s a good friend. So, I saw it coming.” the Mercedes boss added.
Toto Wolff speaks about contacting Lewis Hamilton to change his mind and important advice from Pep Guardiola
Wolff was obviously as surprised as any hearing about this move, but explained that he did not even bother initiating any contact with the Briton in those two weeks, as he wanted Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur and Hamilton himself to let him know what exactly was going on. When quizzed about if he took this decision of Hamilton’s to heart, the Austrian revealed that he had much bigger issues that he needed to handle during that point of time.
“I think that was a situation that I just wanted to see how it was happening, and leave it to him and to Fred to tell me that they were doing this.” said Wolff.
“I had much worse in my life happening, like real drama and trauma, this is not even moving the needle. Lewis is a friend and will forever be a friend – we’ve had 12 years in the team together, so that was just an unusual thought of ‘this is ending’, but not challenging in whichever way.
“So no, that wasn’t a problem. It’s just a new situation, it has risks and opportunities – risks in the sense [of] how do I inform the sponsors as quickly as possible – because it was leaking – and on the other side, what are we doing about next year?” the 52-year-old added.
The Austrian also addressed on the fact of why he did not even try to persuade Hamilton into staying, and brought in key parallels from a conversation he had with his friend a while back, football icon and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
“I think if someone decides to go then you need to let them go, I had a chat with Pep Guardiola a long time ago – he’s a friend – and I said, ‘What do you do if this and that player leaves?’, and he said, ‘What do you mean [what do] I do?’.
“I said, ‘Well, do you try to convince them to stay?’. [He said], ‘No. If somebody thinks he can play elsewhere better or earn more, you’ve just got to let them go’.
“And it is something I embrace in the same way here – somebody wants to go then let’s make it as good as possible for each of the parties.” Wolff revealed.
In the end, it all did work out for Wolff and co., as they have always been quite transparent with the Briton. Mercedes and Wolff now embark onto a new era in the team’s history, with the young gun duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell to take charge in 2025.
