Last Updated on March 4 2024, 12:05 pm

While the Formula One world is obsessed with the Christian Horner situation the fall out from one of the other big winger revelations is starting to build. Lewis Hamilton leaving for Ferrari just months after signing with Mercedes what was announced as a two year deal has rocked the former world champions.

When the bombshell dropped, Toto Wolff had less than a day to react and he gave a frank and honest assessment of the situation.

 

 

 

Wolff questions Hamilton’s motive

“When we re-signed the contract with Lewis, we opted for a shorter term, so the events are not a surprise, but maybe the timing is,” Wolff said. He added that he would speak to Lewis about why he hadn’t informed Mercedes earlier which would have given Toto options with Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc before they then signed new contracts with their respective teams.

Hamilton had let it be known publicly he was looking for a five year contract with Mercedes to end his driving career and a ten year brand ambassador role from Stuttgart. Clearly he was frustrated at the short term outcome which Wolff now confirms would have been the last deal Mercedes did with their star driver.

“We knew that it could be a year, it could be two [before Hamilton left]; we knew that it would come to an end at the latest the end of 2025,” Toto now reveals. Clearly this was not the end of career path Hamilton wanted to take and so he took matters into his own hands and spoke with Ferrari chairman John Elkan – who has made it be known he is a fan of Lewis.

Yet despite claiming Hamilton’s decision wasn’t a “surprise”, Wolff does reveal he expected Lewis to finish his career at Mercedes. “Over the years we came to the conclusion that staying at Mercedes and finishing the legacy here is something that one can be proud of,” says the Mercedes team boss.

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No 8th title at Mercedes

Of course that will not now be the legacy. Hamilton will join the star F1 drivers of yesteryear who donned the red overalls and raced to the cheers of the Tifosi.

Lewis could have delayed his announcement but that would have restricted Toto Wolff’s time to find a replacement for his star driver and the Austrian now points the finger at Lewis for leaving him in such a predicament.

“I’m in no hurry to decide on driver,” he said. “I’ve been rushed in a hurry by Lewis. So I’ll just stand around and kind of take it easy and evaluate the market.”

It was less than a year ago when Toto was talking about “righting the wrongs” of history and making sure Hamilton won his with drivers’ title while at Mercedes.

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Mercedes shambles in Bahrain

“Even if I need to push him around the track to get the eighth, I’m going to do everything that’s needed,” Toto declared to assembled media.

But now that dream looks highly unlikely given he start Mercedes had in Bahrain. After three days of testing and three hours of practice the engineers opted for a hopeful aero package which utilised all the air across the body work as downforce. 

The problem was they need to in fact open up the bodywork and sacrifice some of this to cool the power unit. Inevitably both Lewis and George had problems with overheating and excessive battery depletion during the race.

George Russell claimed after the event that it probably cost him 0.4 seconds a lap, which if applied there the 46 seconds he was behind the eventual winner Max Verstappen, would have had the British driver in podium contention.

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Hamilton ‘on the outside looking in’

This reactive analysis from Russell is probably optimistic according to expert Gary Anderson who believes maybe around half that would have been the reality. Yet this puts Mercedes much closer than the final classification suggests and is a cause of hope for all concerned in the team.

The problem for Hamilton is as the season progresses he is going to find himself ever more on the outside looking in as the team begin to develop and design their car for 2025. As much as Mercedes have had a great 12 year relationship with Hamilton, they are competitive animals seeking to design a car to beat Ferrari et al and Lewis will be racing for a rival next season.

Wolff alluded to this problem when speaking first about Hamilton’s departure. Having digested the shock news Toto revealed his ind quickly turned to how he needed to deal with the matter going forward.

“’OK, what are we doing about communications? What’s the timing? How do we protect the team best? And how do we protect this 2024 year to be successful together with our two drivers without causing too much awkwardness?’” he said.

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Russell jibe at Lewis’ “needs”

And that awkwardness is already manifesting itself as George Russell divulged when asked about the all new Mercedes W15 design. Twice he made the point over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend that “a lot of the car has been designed his wishes.” The Brit told the assembled media.

“The car being sat further rearwards than we were last year and the Red Bull-esque sidepods and a slightly different steering rack,” were all things which Hamilton wanted the Mercedes designers to incorporate.

Russell appears to be hedging his bets as he concludes with the hint of a jibe at his team mate. “For me, its a small change, not better nor worse” and “I think as any driver you just need to adapt to whatever you’re given.”

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Sparks will fly

With Mercedes having George Russell qualify third and Hamilton ninth in Bahrain the jeopardy of them fighting for the same piece of asphalt never arose last weekend, yet Mercedes will have to deal with this and more as the season progresses.

When the choice of first pit stop is critical and the team decides to favour George of the departing Hamilton, sparks will indeed fly, but Lewis should expect nothing less.

Despite Mercedes putting on a poor show in Bahrain, as Gary Anderson states their car is better than it showed and maybe they can be fighting with Ferrari and even Reed Bull for race wins this year.

But who will the team favour when push comes to shove? Russell of course, and as Toto hinted, Lewis only has himself to blame for that.

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