“It’s not something I have a grudge at all” : Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton going ‘behind his back’ during Ferrari transfer
Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari broke the internet as it came out so unexpectedly, that too at the start of the new F1 season. The Briton still had a year left on his contract with the Silver Arrows but chose to go a different direction for probably the final chapter of his illustrious career.
The news obviously shocked the fans, but it was recently revealed that even Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff did not have much of an idea of his star player moving to the Maranello-based team, until the outgoing Ferrari man Carlos Sainz’s father revealed the situation to him two weeks before.
The Austrian was recently asked about whether this move by Hamilton caused distrust between the two, he was empathic enough to put himself in the Briton’s shoes and said he would have also been under pressure to first talk it out to him or other Mercedes officials.
“I think when you need to set a standard for yourself and I think it was such a difficult situation for him, because our team wasn’t doing as good as we expected from ourselves, and I think the opportunity came up quickly over the winter and […] he probably didn’t have enough time to say, ‘well how am I tackling this with Toto or with Mercedes.’” Wolff said on ESPN.
“So, it’s not something I have a grudge at all. If we could replay it in a better way, which… there is no better way because he was under pressure you know in the summer, in the winter, so maybe we would have had conversations.” the Austrian added.
Toto Wolff spares a few words on Lewis Hamilton’s departure
While George Russell got the victory at Las Vegas, the seven-time world champion did a great job to come back from a series of poor performances, coming second even when he started at tenth place. With just two races left in his 12-year long Mercedes career, the time is coming for the Briton to say goodbye to the team where he became a worldwide superstar.
Toto Wolff also said a few words about Hamilton’s departure, saying how grateful he is for this lengthy partnership.
“There is no overwhelming emotion now that this is ending… [but] the last race together will be quite a thing because we had this wonderful partnership for such a long time. But having said that, Lewis is not going to disappear. Lewis is going to be on the grid next year with a Ferrari. We are not losing the person, we are just losing the driver. But we embark on a new future.” Wolff said.
Lewis Hamilton will be starting at Ferrari soon, and we could see him in the Italian colours as soon as early February.
