Mercedes director surprised by the manner and timing of Lewis Hamilton's departure

Mercedes technical director James Allison recently shared his thoughts on Lewis Hamilton's departure from Mercedes. He stated that he was surprised by its timing and how the team's contract details played a part in it.

Before the 2024 F1 season began, Ferrari dropped an explosive announcement that Lewis Hamilton would join them in 2025. Since his name was synonymous with Mercedes, his move took the F1 space by storm. Hamilton would soon leave the Silver Arrows after winning six of his seven world titles with them. Even a few Mercedes team members were surprised to learn about the move.

Following the announcement, Mercedes has been browsing the driver market for a driver who could replace the seven-time world champion in 2025. So far, they have targeted the likes of Carlos Sainz, defending world champion Max Verstappen, and their own junior driver Kimi Antonelli.

Speaking in the Beyond the Grid F1 podcast, Allison was asked about Hamilton's Ferrari announcement and whether he was surprised by it. He replied that he was particularly taken aback by the timing and the manner in which the announcement was made. He explained that the Brit's move was triggered by the type of contract Mercedes offered.

“Not massively. I was surprised at the manner in which it happened, the timing of it. I was aware of the nature of the contract we'd offered, and the nature of the contract we'd offered permitted that to happen. So if it then happened, we shouldn't be surprised because that was explicitly a thing that we were prepared to happen or else we wouldn't have put it as an option in the contract,” Allison said.

He added:

"The precise timing and the sequencing of when it happened, that I think caught everyone a bit on the hop."

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Toto Wolff talked about Lewis Hamilton's departure from Mercedes

After Ferrari announced Lewis Hamilton for 2025 back in February 2024, Toto Wolff was interviewed and he gave his first thoughts about the move.

Wolff and Hamilton enjoyed success in F1 for several years. They started working together at Mercedes and won eight constructors' and six drivers' titles together. On several occasions, both have stated that their relationship extends beyond their profession.

Speaking to F1.com, the Austrian billionaire said:

"In a way, Formula 1 and my previous life have made me imperious to surprises. I’ve been confronted so many times in my life with black swans that it was a surprise, but we went open-eyed into this phase of our relationship. We knew that it could be a year, it could be two; we knew that it would come to an end at the latest the end of 2025.

"The surprise was that I heard the rumours a couple of days earlier, but I wanted to wait for the breakfast we had planned. This is when he broke the news," he added.

As of now, Mercedes has not yet locked a driver who will replace Lewis Hamilton on the team in 2025.