The day before the shocking announcement was made public, Lewis Hamilton told Mercedes he was quitting to join rivals Ferrari, according to team principal Toto Wolff.
Although the 52-year-old Austrian said that he had no ill will against the seven-time world champion, he did acknowledge that “I wouldn’t have believed it if you had told me two days ago that Lewis was going to Ferrari.”
Although the 39-year-old driver and Wolff had a good connection when Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013, the same year that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the world championship, Hamilton has not won a race since.
Speaking for the first time since announcing Hamilton’s exit, Wolff said that on Wednesday morning during a breakfast meeting at the Oxford house of the team manager, he personally delivered the news to the player.
“We talked for a solid hour together… That was essentially it when he stated that he had made the decision to compete for Ferrari in 2025,’ added Wolff.
“With me you can be very straightforward, when he said this was the fact, I didn’t try and convince him otherwise.”
Wolff insisted that he had no cause to mistrust Hamilton’s ethics and that their relationship would endure even if their racing collaboration ended.
“In the future we will discuss whether this could have been handled in another way, but I hold no grudge,” he stated.
When asked why Hamilton had departed Mercedes a few months after agreeing to a new deal, Wolff responded, “I’m not sure what changed precisely; I can only say that heading into the Christmas season, we were well aligned. You must find out from Lewis why he had second thoughts.”
Although Wolff acknowledged that “every driver dreams of being in the red overalls, the red car (of Ferrari),” he said he understood Hamilton’s choice to make a move.
In addition, the Mercedes manager acknowledged that his team’s chances of winning the race against Red Bull in Hamilton’s last season with the company were slim.
“There is the friend side in me that says he should have an eighth (title) because that was taken away from him, so if he wins that in 2024 that would be a great thing, but going forward I would rather us winning,” Wolff responded when asked about his aspirations for Hamilton’s future.
Ferrari issued a succinct statement on Thursday confirming Hamilton’s agreement on a multiyear contract.
Hamilton is not assured a championship, as Ferrari—the most illustrious and prosperous racing team in motorsport history—has not triumphed in a driver’s title since 2007.
In reaction to the announcement, the company’s share price increased by almost 10% on Thursday.
When the Formula 1 season kicks off in Bahrain in March, Hamilton will start his final campaign with Mercedes.
