Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has opened up on details surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s shock move to Ferrari – and how he got an early tip-off from Carlos Sainz Sr.
Hamilton told Wolff during a visit to his house at the end of January that he would be activating an exit clause in his Mercedes contract and joining Ferrari for the 2025 season.
But while Hamilton’s announcement was the first official confirmation that Wolff had of his driver’s departure, he has now spoken at length about how he had been alerted to the prospect for a little while.
Speaking to the High Performance podcast, Wolff said that an initial call from Sainz Sr., father of the Ferrari driver Carlos that Hamilton is replacing, had been where he first got word that something was in the offing.
“So I heard the bells ringing two weeks before,” said Wolff. “Yeah, the old man Sainz called me and said, this is what’s happening.
“And then there were a few drivers’ dads rang me up that didn’t before. So I thought, Okay…there’s something going on there.
“And then I sent a text to [Ferrari boss] Fred Vasseur saying: ‘You’re taking our driver?’ Didn’t get any response. Very unusual for Fred. He’s a good friend. So yeah, I saw it coming.”
With his suspicion about the intention of Hamilton’s visit to his house, Wolff also revealed that he threw a curveball into their chat by first telling the seven-time champion about Mercedes having signed former Ferrari chief designer Simone Resta.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG, with Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
“When Lewis arrived in the house, like he did so many years before, we had a bit of a small talk, like we always do about the Christmas holidays and all of that,” explained Wolff.
“Then I said, “Well, we’re recruiting from Ferrari now. We got this guy.” And Lewis was, “Oh, there’s something I need to tell you.” And yeah, when he said that, that initial moment was a little bit of… so this is really happening?”
When news of Hamilton’s Ferrari decision was made public, it became one of the biggest shock news events of recent F1 history.
But Wolff said that he was able to deal with the situation in quite a calm manner.
“Well, I had much worse in my life, happening, like real drama and trauma,” he said. “This is not even moving the needle.”
He added: “It’s just a new situation. It has risks and opportunities, risks in the sense of how do I inform the sponsors as quickly as possible? Because it was leaking… And on the other side, what are we doing about next year?”
Wolff also made it clear that there was no temptation from his side to try to persuade Hamilton to change his mind.
“I think if someone decides to go, then you need to let them go,” he said. “I had a chat with Pep Guardiola a long time ago, and he is a friend. I said, ‘What do you do if this and that player leaves?’ And he said, ‘What do you mean I do?’ I said, ‘Well, do you try to convince them to stay?’
“He said: ‘No, if somebody thinks he can play elsewhere better or earns more – you have just got to let them go.’ And it is something that I embrace in the same way here. Somebody wants to go – then let’s make it as good as possible for each of the parties.”
