"Expiry date"

What Toto Wolff “likes” about Lewis Hamilton’s departure

Toto Wolff (right) and Lewis Hamilton part ways at the end of the season.

(Bild: Getty Images/APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Steven Ferdman)

Toto Wolff also sees something good in Lewis Hamilton's switch from Mercedes to Ferrari. From a pragmatic point of view. This can be seen in the new book "Inside Mercedes F1".

This fine work was written by the award-winning British writer and author Matt Whyman. He was given the honor of spending months researching the Mercedes Formula 1 team from every conceivable perspective. For the book project, almost all doors were opened to him into the inner sanctum of the Silver Arrows. And the interviewees were also open.

Wolff "likes the situation"
Big boss Toto Wolff, for example. And yes - what a surprise - he also talked about Lewis Hamilton and his switch to Ferrari. Toto was not particularly euphoric about the loss of his star driver, especially as he had already opted for Ferrari "even before we knew whether we would be competitive with our car". However, Wolff also finds something good in the departure - from a very pragmatic point of view. "I like the situation," the Austrian is quoted as saying in the book: "It helps us because it avoids the moment when we have to tell the most iconic driver in the sport that we want to end the collaboration.

"Piece of wood"
It no longer seems to have been a truly intimate (love) relationship between the 39-year-old Hamilton and his Mercedes racing car in the recent past anyway. Most recently, he was quite bluntly longing for the end of the season. "I hope the last three circuits aren't as bumpy as the track here in Sao Paulo. I'm ready for the vacations," the seven-time world champion let it slip after the weekend in Brazil that he was no longer in the mood for his cockpit in the W15: "The car felt like a piece of wood. As if I had zero suspension. I was just bouncing around, I couldn't accelerate like I wanted to. My car has never been this bad, especially in the corners."

Strong stuff! Perhaps Toto Wolff is really breathing a sigh of relief that Hamilton has taken a far-reaching decision off his hands. In any case, Wolff is convinced, as he says in the book: "Everyone has an expiration date."