Lewis Hamilton is set for a historic link up with Formula One’s longest standing team next season. The announcement he was leaving Mercedes just months into what was billed as a two year deal shook the F1 world to its core, particularly since the Scuderia have on of the sport’s brightest young talents in Monegasque, Charles Leclerc.

Since the São Paulo Grand Prix, Wolff has made a number of revelations regarding Hamilton’s exit the most shocking being he knew of the talks taking place between the parties, but did nothing to persuade his star driver to remain with the Mercedes team.

Wolff explains how a conversation with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola swung his decision to allow Hamilton leave and the Mercedes boss also questioned the “shelf life” of the seven times world champion, clearly reflected in the one plus one year’s contract negotiated last autumn.

Toto was tipped off about the conversations taking place between Lewis and Ferrari by none other than Carlos Sainz Snr, who knew his sone was not being retained by the Scuderia.

 

 

 

Wolff knew 2 weeks before

Speaking to the High Performance podcast the Mercedes boss revealed when alarm bells began to ring. “So I heard the bells ringing two weeks before. Yeah, the old man Sainz called me and said, this is what’s happening. And then there were a few drivers’ dads rang me up that didn’t before. So I thought, Okay…there’s something going on there.

“And then 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 yeah, I saw it coming,” Wolff explained.

Back in January when the bombshell hit that Hamilton would be driving for Ferrari in 2025, Wolff admitted at the time he was not shocked by the news, but by the timing of his drivers’ announcement.

“I was in shock of the timing; the sheer fact didn’t come as a shock. It was more Why now?” said the Mercedes boss following the breaking news. “I saw that something is bothering him. We’ve been together for more than 10 years, and we’ve had a friendly relationship, and then you got to break this news.”

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Pep Guardiola influenced Toto’s plans

Mercedes and Hamilton had recently signed what had been billed as a two year deal, but in fact it had a break clause at the end of the first period. This meant come the end of the year, Hamilton would be a free agent.

Wolff did complain about the timing of Lewis’ informing him given in the days before both Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris had signed contract extensions meaning they were no longer options for Wolff to replace there departing Hamilton. Speaking to Sky F1 Wolff pondered: “Maybe it’s a chance to do something bold,” which immediately set the headline writers running for their quills as the implication was that Mercedes’ academy rising star Kimi Antonelli, would be plunged into a top F1 team’s car as a rookie.

With the news breaking in the last few days that Toto had a couple of weeks notice from Carlos Sainz Snr as to what was occurring, it begs the question as to why the Mercedes’ boss didn’t try to persuade the seven times champion to stay with the Brockley team.

Wolff now recalls a conversation he had with Pep Guardiola while speaking with Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Podcast. ”I had a chat with Pep Guardioloa a long time ago, he’s a friend, and I said ‘What do you do if this and that player leaves?’

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Hamilton described as despondent

“He said ‘What do you mean, what do I do?’ And I said ‘Well, do you try to convince them to stay?’ And he said ‘No. If somebody thinks they can play elsewhere better, then you just have to let them go’.”

So after the fateful call from Sainz father, Toto clearly decided he would respect Hamilton’s decision rather than attempt to persuade him to remain. Further, the Mercedes boss was already questioning Lewis’ longevity who whilst younger than Fernando Alonso appears to be losing his F1 super powers before the Spanish double world champion.

On current form, Hamilton will be beaten 2-1 by George Russell in their three years of championship battles and the once master of the single lap has been trounced this year by his team mate too (17-9). Following a troubled weekend in Brazil for Lewis, Martin Brundle commented that one of the Mercedes cars cold have won the race but for poor strategy. 

“It was therefore somewhat surprising to hear a despondent Hamilton admit he has little desire to keep driving the W15 at the remaining races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi,” said Brundle. 

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Lewis approaching his “shelf life”

Hamilton like Perez and Ricciardo has failed to grasp the driving techniques required to drive the new F1 gourd effect cars first seen in 2022. Three years of being uncompetitive has taken its toll on Hamilton and a number of paddock voices have questioned whether he should carry on.

Wolff also revealed he saw the Hamilton downturn coming suggesting it was clear from the nature of the contract they signed with Hamilton. “There’s a reason why we only signed a one-plus-one-year contract,” Wolff told Humphrey.

“We’re in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important and I believe everyone has a shelf life. So I need to look at the next generation.

“It’s the same in football. Managers like Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola, they anticipated it in their performance of their top stars and brought in junior players that drove the team for the next years.”

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Toto avoids the ‘difficult’ conversation

There was one added bonus for Wolff when he heard the news from Lewis, “[But] I liked 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,” revealed Wolff.

As the pieces of the puzzle have been revealed, this is a story not of Hamilton making a bold leap to join Ferrari. Rather, knowing his driver was in talks with the Scuderia, the Mercedes boss chose not to intervene.

But surely his decision has been vindicated this year, as Lewis Hamilton is set to record his worst championship result in his eighteen year F1 career. 

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Perez confirmed by RBR for 2025

The relationship between Sergio Perez and Formula One’s Red Bull Racing has been under intense scrutiny for some months. Having fallen more than 100 points behind his team mate at the F1 summer break, the team from Milton Keynes were expected to end Checo’s misery and replace him with favourite Daniel Ricciardo.

Yet somehow Sergio survived ‘the chop’ with Dr. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner claiming the next four races included some circuits where Checo excelled. Just over month later, Sergio had collected just thirteen points across the four race weekends despite having being victorious previously in Baku and Singapore.

However, the autumn F1 break saw Ricciardo not Perez leaving the Red Bull family as reports emerged Sergio was safe until after his home Grand Prix in Mexico City. Last season at the Autodromo Romanos Rodriguez, Sergio hurtled into turn one competing for the lead of the race, but a collision with Charles Leclerc saw the Mexican retire the car… READ MORE