Wolff Shares His Immediate Response To Hamilton's Ferrari Revelation

Wednesday, 27 March 2024 at 13:30

Updated at Wednesday, 27 March 2024 at 14:17

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff shared the story of how he found out about Lewis Hamilton signing with Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari is one of the most anticipated things about the 2025 season. When his contract with the Maranello team was announced, it was perhaps the biggest news of the decade in F1.

However, it was a bit controversial because his contract with Ferrari came only a few months after he signed a new deal with Mercedes for seasons 2024 and 2025, which hadn't started at the time.

Toto Wolff also admitted that the deal was done behind his back despite his great and honest relationship with the seven-time World Champion.

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In the interview with Fox Sports Australia following the third race of the season at Albert Park Circuit, Wolff was asked how much time he had between finding out the deal and the official announcement. He responded:

"Not a lot. I think it was difficult for him to really tell me, because he left for the Christmas holiday and ‘Mercedes forever’."

"And normally, that's a time where we don't speak a lot because he's gone because otherwise, we are speaking every day."

When Hamilton returned from his break, he called the Austrian out for coffee near the Mercedes factory in Brackley to inform him about what had happened.

"Then he came back and said: 'Can we have a coffee?' Then he came for the coffee - that' normal thing we do when the season kicks off, and then he said, 'I'm moving to Ferrari.'"

This news came as a massive surprise to Wolff, who thought he didn't have to worry about his two drivers at least until the end of the 2025 season when their contracts were supposed to expire. But he insisted he wasn't disappointed:

"I see the positives because our years were so great, and we really have a strong bond."

When asked how it would feel to see Hamilton driving for Ferrari after 12 years of their collaboration, he revealed an amusing response he said to the 39-year-old.

"I can't imagine him in the red, I don't think it suits him. I told him, you gotta really picture our rear wing, because that's the perspective you're gonna have."