Wolff Reveals 'Bruising' Element Of Hamilton's Mercedes Exit

"There is a professional and a personal relationship, and when he signed a very short-term contract [last year], it was clear that could happen."

"What was bruising is that I didn't have any time to react. It was basically the same day. And when I said, 'Okay, how are we going to announce this? The beginning of the season or mid-season?'"

"It was clear it was leaking from Ferrari. And it was happening to fall on the day of earnings."

"That didn't give me enough time to do some stakeholder management, call our sponsors, the shareholders and explain what was happening. That was the only thing."

"But I somewhere read a good motto, 'Play hard, forgive quickly and apologise when you're wrong'. And the personal relationship [with Hamilton] doesn't suffer."

"If I put myself in his shoes, I can understand because the team wasn't doing very well. When you're in the last phase of your career, everyone wants to wear red overalls with a yellow prancing horse. Probably the financial terms were also very positive."

"So I kind of got my head around it and why he's doing that, and I have absolute peace with him in my relationship goes much deeper."

"For 12 years, we've been friends and allies and brothers in crime, and he's got to be competitive in the car, but we haven't divorced as friends."