Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has explained how he avoided a “bordering hostile” environment with Lewis Hamilton, after his move to Formula 1 rivals Ferrari was announced.
The most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history came to an end at the end of last year, as Hamilton bade farewell to the German marque after six Drivers’ Championships and eight Constructors’ Championships.
Approaching 40, Hamilton chose to make a long-rumoured switch to Ferrari for this year, but the announcement came the previous February, before the season had even begun.
This left the team with a whole campaign to adjust to life without Hamilton, with Wolff now needing to replace not just a driver of calibre impossible to replace, but one that was also his friend.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Wolff explained that the whole team came together to ensure that there was no bad feeling from any side in Hamilton’s swansong year.
“When he decided to go, it could have been very awkward, borderline hostile, and we actively talked about how to not make it that,” he said.
“All of us made a real effort in trying to be very accommodating, very understanding.”
Hamilton and Wolff have ‘maintained’ friendship despite Ferrari switch
Wolff also revealed that his friendship with Hamilton has been maintained, citing that he still appears regularly in Mercedes’ motorhome and returns home with the Austrian.
“He’s maintained being a friend. He pops up in the office on the weekend!” he divulged. “He speaks with the engineers, gets some food.
“After many Grand Prix, he travels back with me. So we have the old gang: Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and me flying from the races.”
The 53-year-old said that regardless of the rivalry that now exists when his cars and Hamilton’s are racing each other, there is still a healthy harmony between the pair, admitting that might be unlikely.
“It’s very unusual in any kind of relationship,” he highlighted.
“But I tried to be very open and say, ‘Listen, on the racetrack, we want to beat you. No doubt about that. But it’s been 12 years that we have been in this relationship. We trust each other.’
“I’m living a different life through his eyes, you know, he shows me his flirts and who he dates, and [asks], ‘Should I go for this girl or not?’ And I’m saying, ‘Yes, you should, and tell me how it was!’”
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