"We need to remind ourselves this is not the end of our friendship": Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton's impending Mercedes departure

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff recently shared his thoughts on Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes after 12 long years of success. The seven-time world champion is set to join Ferrari in 2025.

Before the 2024 F1 season began, Ferrari announced they had hired the Brit for next year and decided to replace Carlos Sainz. This was a massive move in the driver market since Hamilton's name was synonymous with Mercedes. He won six of his seven drivers' titles with the team and had deep connections with them. Toto Wolff has frequently mentioned that he and Hamilton are very good friends.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Wolff shared that he and Hamilton were already emotional about his departure, even though there are a few weeks left until the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. He explained that all the emotions will not hit on the final race itself, but it is spread out through the entire season because of the amount of memories they created together.

He emphasized that though Hamilton was leaving Mercedes, his friendship with Toto and other members of the team was not ending.

"Lewis and I are going through the emotions already since a while. We need to remind ourselves that this is not the end of our friendship and we are doing it both ways. When there is these special situations, acknowledging that this is special, I don't think that its going to hit just on this single day as the last race. I think we have those moments where we understand that's not going to be in that way anymore in the future," Wolff said at 1:03:00.

---

Toto Wolff revealed who enlightened him about Lewis Hamilton's departure from Mercedes

Mercedes honcho Toto Wolff recently revealed that Carlos Sainz's father, Carlos Sainz Sr. contacted him about rumors that Lewis Hamilton might leave Mercedes to join Ferrari.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Wolff explained that he got to know about Hamilton's departure two weeks prior to the official announcement. The information was given by Carlos Sainz Sr., whose son was driving for Ferrari and was about to be replaced. The Austrian billionaire then said that he sent a text message to the Italian team's boss, Frederic Vasseur, but received no reply despite being good friends with him.

"The old man Sainz called me and said this is what’s happening. Then there were a few drivers that rang me up that didn’t before. (I) sent a text to Fred Vasseur saying ‘you’re taking our driver?’ “I didn’t get any response, very unusual for Fred. He’s a good friend," Wolff explained at 1:32.

Lewis Hamilton currently stands in seventh place with only 190 points in the drivers' championship table.