Hamilton ‘on a knife-edge’ as he misses Q3 in Australia

Lewis Hamilton says the Mercedes car is on a knife-edge at the Australian Grand Prix after being eliminated in Q2 for the first time this season. Both Mercedes drivers were struggling in qualifying after solid performances in final practice, with …

Lewis Hamilton says the Mercedes car is on a knife-edge at the Australian Grand Prix after being eliminated in Q2 for the first time this season.

Both Mercedes drivers were struggling in qualifying after solid performances in final practice, with George Russell only advancing to Q3 by 0.059s. The car Russell edged out was Hamilton who had struggled to improve on his final run, and the seven-time world champion says the car had felt much more competitive prior to the start of the qualifying session.

“Every outing you learn something new,” Hamilton said. “P3 felt really good for us and I was really feeling optimistic going into qualifying. But then, I don’t know if it was the wind picking up — the wind picked up quite a bit, same as yesterday — and then the car is just so much more on a knife-edge here.

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“I haven’t done a long run so I don’t really know [about the race performance], but the other car has. I think everyone’s so fast, so… But it’s a new day, we’ll still try. I’ll give it everything and hopefully I can move forwards.”

Hamilton says there are similarities to how Mercedes has been struggling ever since the introduction of new regulations in 2022, but that there have been more positive signs with the latest car that still give him cause for optimism.

“I mean, it’s three years in a row, similar feeling. There’s these spikes of, ‘Ah, it could be good,’ like this morning, but then it kind of disappears. If we can work out a way of finding that goodness in the car and making it more consistent and holding onto that, then we can be more competitive. There’s lots of work we need to do, but everyone’s working as hard as they can.

“In 2022 we weren’t splitting [setups]. George was doing one thing and I was trying every setup that there was to try and help the team try and find options and figure out how we can fix it. It’s pretty much the same, a little bit similar to this year, I’m trying lots of different things but I think this weekend we’re much closer.”

Hamilton backs Wolff legal action due to lack of accountability, transparency at FIA

Lewis Hamilton says there is no transparency or accountability at the FIA and hopes Susie Wolff’s legal action against the governing body will lead to change. Wolff has filed a criminal complaint in French courts after statements made by the FIA in …

Lewis Hamilton says there is no transparency or accountability at the FIA and hopes Susie Wolff’s legal action against the governing body will lead to change.

Wolff has filed a criminal complaint in French courts after statements made by the FIA in December that she claims called her integrity into question, relating to a potential conflict of interest investigation including the F1 Academy managing director and her husband Toto. Hamilton suggests recent developments involving FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner — who were both cleared after internal investigations — shows there needs to be external influence on certain matters.

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“Firstly, I’m incredibly proud of Susie,” Hamilton said. “I think she is so brave, and she stands for such great values. She’s such a leader, and in a world where often people are silenced, for her to be standing up sends such a great message.

“I love that she’s taken it out of this world, fighting it from the outside, because there is a real lack of accountability here, within this sport, within the FIA — things that are happening behind closed doors, there is no transparency, there is really no accountability, and we need that. I think the fans need that. How can you trust the sport and what is happening here if you don’t have that?”

The FIA’s Ethics Committee announced on Wednesday night that it had cleared Ben Sulayem of any wrongdoing after allegations from a whistleblower regarding potential interference into F1 events, while at Red Bull the complainant against Horner has taken the matter to the governing body, having been suspended on full pay earlier this month.

“Hopefully this stand that [Wolff’s] taking now will create change, will have a positive impact, and especially for women,” Hamilton said. “It is still a male-dominated sport, and we’re living in a time where the message is if you file a complaint, you will be fired, and that is a terrible narrative to be projecting to the world, especially when we’re talking about inclusivity here in the sport. We need to make sure we stay true to the core values.”

When he and Mercedes teammate George Russell were asked if they are confident that Ben Sulayem is the right man to lead the FIA and has their backing, Hamilton said off-microphone: “He never has.”

For his part, Russell called for an explanation of the facts around recent investigations, admitting it’s tough to not be skeptical when attempts are made to keep them private.

“I think as drivers, we have a role within the teams, and you trust that the leaders in this sport have the best interests at their heart rather than their own interests,” Russell said. “I think it goes back to the transparency side of things. If things are transparent and we see the outcome of these cases, we all have a chance to judge for ourself with all of the facts and figures in front of us. But when we don’t have the facts and figures, and there is no transparency, you always think there’s something being hidden.

“That’s why I think it’s so important for the sport now, as Lewis said, to send the right message to everybody who is supporting Formula 1, watching Formula 1, wants to be involved in Formula 1, that things aren’t just swept under the carpet.”

Hamilton seeing positives despite ‘not fun’ results

Lewis Hamilton says he’s enjoying the racing battles he’s having but that finishing ninth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is “definitely not fun” as Mercedes struggles for performance. Both Mercedes drivers have spoken more positively about the 2024 …

Lewis Hamilton says he’s enjoying the racing battles he’s having but that finishing ninth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is “definitely not fun” as Mercedes struggles for performance.

Both Mercedes drivers have spoken more positively about the 2024 car than either of its predecessors, but could only line up side-by-side on the fourth row in Jeddah, with George Russell going on to finish sixth and Hamilton limited to ninth after being one of the few drivers not to make a pit stop under the early safety car. Despite his frustrations at the results, Hamilton believes there is still potential for Mercedes to unlock.

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“I wouldn’t say I’m having fun,” Hamilton said. “I’m racing for ninth, I can’t say that … finishing ninth is definitely not fun. I am enjoying the actual racing part and I was hunting and I was pushing as much as I could. I was maximizing everything I had with the car, was right on the edge but unfortunately just really lacking performance in the high speed where [McLaren] were all over us.

“But there are positives — the car is good in low speed, we have got some areas that we have to add a lot of load in the high speed. I think if we are able to do that then I think it puts us in the fight.”

It was a similar story for Russell, who did follow the more popular strategy of fitting hard tires early on and running to the end, but was unable to get close enough to Fernando Alonso to fight for fifth place.

“We’re still really trying to understand this car because we have shown true performance at points over the last two weekends,” Russell said. “FP1 straight out of the box we were top of the timesheets and always in the top three. FP2, P2, and then both weekends the pace has just fallen away from us.

“And that hasn’t been our competitors getting faster, that’s been us getting slower. So we need to understand why that is, but it’s fine margins now. It’s so close between ourselves, McLaren and Aston, and Charles [Leclerc] is just a smidge ahead, we just need to tap into a bit more.”

One area that Mercedes has been struggling is with bouncing, but Russell believes there are also other aspects that the team needs to get on top of.

“I think there’s more to it — it’s so complex these days. These cars are so complicated, couple that with the tires — the tires are very difficult as well — and right now we don’t have the answers.”

Formula 1 FP1 and FP2 results: Verstappen outside top 5 both sessions

Despite Verstappen’s placings, there’s also reason to believe that Red Bull may not have turned up their engines for the first two practice sessions Thursday.

While Max Verstappen and the Red Bulls are still favored to top the grid for Formula 1’s first race in Bahrain, it was all Mercedes for Thursday’s practice sessions.

Verstappen has been all the rage since testing showed Red Bull’s prowess, but he only landed 6th in both free practice sessions in Bahrain Thursday. In the first session, former Red Bull driver and current Visa Cashapp RB driver Daniel Ricciardo topped the session with a 1:32.869, coming ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and then his own teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Here’s what FP1 classifications looked like:

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FP2 was all Mercedes. It was Lewis Hamilton who topped the charts, with his 1:30.374 coming in just 0.206 seconds faster than his teammate George Russell in second. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso kept it close in both sessions, finishing fifth in FP1 and third in FP2. The VCARB cars didn’t perform nearly as well this time around, with Ricciardo placing 12th and Tsunoda 15th:

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While some may be looking for some competition on Saturday’s race day with Verstappen not topping either chart, it may not be wise to get your hopes up. When taking a look at the telemetry data from the free practice sessions, it appears as if Red Bull (and Ferrari, for that matter) have yet to fully unleash their engine during practice.

FP3 will take place at 7:30 a.m. EST on Friday, while Q1 of qualifying will be at 11:00 a.m. The race will begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday.

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Hamilton says unique allure of Ferrari prompted decision to ‘start a new chapter’

Lewis Hamilton says he was ready for a new chapter in his career but believes achieving success at Ferrari is going to be “a huge challenge” as he looks to follow in Michael Schumacher’s footsteps. Hamilton will move to Ferrari in 2025 after …

Lewis Hamilton says he was ready for a new chapter in his career but believes achieving success at Ferrari is going to be “a huge challenge” as he looks to follow in Michael Schumacher’s footsteps.

Hamilton will move to Ferrari in 2025 after activating a break clause in the Mercedes contract he had signed six months ago, meaning he will leave the team he’s driven for since 2013. The seven-time world champion says he was committed when he signed his latest Mercedes deal but the allure of trying to bring success to Ferrari in the way Schumacher did was too strong.

“Obviously in summer we signed and at that time I saw my future with Mercedes, but an opportunity came up in the new year and I decided to take it,” Hamilton said. “It was obviously the hardest decision I have ever had to make. I’ve been with Mercedes for, I think, 26 years they have supported me, and we have had an absolutely incredible journey together.

“We have created history together in the sport and it’s something I take a lot of pride in and I’m very proud of what we have achieved. I think ultimately I’m writing my story and I felt like it was just time to start a new chapter.

“I think for every driver, growing up, watching the history, watching Michael Schumacher in his prime, I think probably all of us sit in our garage and see the screen pop up, and you see the driver in the red cockpit, and you wonder what it might be like to be surrounded by the red. You go to the Italian Grand Prix, and you see the sea of red of Ferrari fans, and you can only stand in awe of that.

“It’s a team that’s not had huge success, really since… mostly obviously from Michael’s days, but obviously since 2007, and I saw it as a huge challenge. Without a doubt, even as a kid, I used to play on GP2 as Michael in that car. So it definitely is a dream, and I’m really, really excited about it.”

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One of the main reasons the move happened is Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur who ran Hamilton with his ART team in his junior career, with Hamilton admitting he was central to finalizing the deal.

“I’ve got a great relationship with Fred,” he said. “Obviously I raced for him in Formula 3 and we had amazing success in Formula 3 and also in GP2, and that’s really where the foundation for our relationship started.

“We just always remained in touch, and I thought that he was going to be an amazing team manager at some stage and progress to Formula 1, but at the time he wasn’t interested in that.

“It was pretty cool to see him step into the Alfa team and then when he got the job at Ferrari I was so happy for him. I think just the stars aligned — it really wouldn’t have happened without him and I’m just really grateful and really excited about the work he’s doing there.”

Hamilton’s move was slightly unusual in the sense that it has been announced with a full season at Mercedes still to run, and the 39-year-old says he won’t be distracted from trying to end this part of his career on a high.

“This chapter’s still not finished. I am still 100% focused on delivering for this team this year and trying to finish on a high. That’s a big, big goal for me and the team. I have absolute faith in everyone in the team and what we’ve done so far I think is great, so I really hope that we are somehow able to close the gap to the Red Bulls.”

Finishing Mercedes stint on a high ‘would be a dream’ for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says it “would be a dream” if he was able to finish his time at Mercedes on a high with a championship challenge in 2024. Mercedes launched its 2024 car – the W15 – on Wednesday, with Hamilton and teammate George Russell both carrying …

Lewis Hamilton says it “would be a dream” if he was able to finish his time at Mercedes on a high with a championship challenge in 2024.

Mercedes launched its 2024 car — the W15 — on Wednesday, with Hamilton and teammate George Russell both carrying out filming duties during a shakedown in wet conditions (pictured above). The car will be Hamilton’s last as a Mercedes driver before his switch to Ferrari, and he says he is determined to ensure he’s in the best possible shape to try and add to his record number of wins with the team.

“I feel the most motivated and focused I’ve ever been,” Hamilton said. “Every year you come back and you are like ‘I’m fitter than ever’ and all these different things. But I generally feel I put more work and more time and more focus into preparation this year.

“I never thought at this point in my life that I’d have hunger like I do right now. And to finish on a high with the team would be a dream. We’ve gone through a whole heap together, so to finish on a high, it would be the greatest honor to be able to help them get back to the top.”

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The seven-time world champion admits it has been a tough few weeks since informing Mercedes he would be leaving at the end of the season, having originally joined the team more than a decade ago.

“Obviously been emotional — it’s very surreal to be here given I came here in 2013,” he said. “So 11 years with the team, starting my 12th, and it is such a privilege to work with a group of people where you see the work they’re doing over the winter — we go through this process over the last couple of years — you see a car come together at the beginning of the year, it’s the most exciting part of the season really.

“You see everyone’s launches; this is the first time I’ve seen the car come together as a whole, but to know everything that’s underneath the hood — which people won’t get to see but George and I will get to experience on the track — is exciting.”

Hamilton’s Ferrari move ‘was not his childhood dream 12 months ago’ – Alonso

Fernando Alonso says Lewis Hamilton was not openly talking about driving for Ferrari being his dream until his move to Maranello was announced, but believes the Briton could be fighting for a championship with the team. Hamilton announced his …

Fernando Alonso says Lewis Hamilton was not openly talking about driving for Ferrari being his dream until his move to Maranello was announced, but believes the Briton could be fighting for a championship with the team.

Hamilton announced his decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari at the start of this month, exercising a break clause to make the switch at the end of 2024. Alonso drove for Ferrari from 2010 until 2014, and says Hamilton will need to win to get the best experience with the team but also allowed himself to joke about claims he had always wanted to race for the Scuderia.

“It was not his childhood dream 12 months ago or two months ago, I guess, because it was a different dream,” Alonso said. “Nothing really to comment. I hope he enjoys the experience. I think it’s a very special team, but it is more special when you win. That’s the thing – you need to win, and it’s a few years already that they have a very fast car and they were fighting for big things, and maybe Lewis can bring that extra to fight for the championship.

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“As I said, the car is there. At the end of last year, even with a very dominant Red Bull car, Ferrari was still able to match the lap time and be faster than them in most of the [qualifying sessions]. I think the car should be fast enough.”

The Spaniard admits he was surprised by Hamilton’s switch because of how integrated at Mercedes the seven-time world champion has been.

“I didn’t spend too much time (on the news),” he said. “I was training…that day, so I missed all the stress from everybody. I was just one day late on the news. I don’t know, probably it was a surprise, I will not lie, but not because [of] the change itself. It was just because, from the outside, it seemed like he was very linked with Mercedes and very loyal to them and things like that.

“It was a little bit unexpected. I don’t know the reasons behind [it]. I don’t know anything, the stories, so it’s more a question for him. But yeah, I didn’t pay too much attention, and probably next week it’s going to be more of a theme because, still, one year ahead, I didn’t spend much time thinking.

Alonso eventually tired of speaking about Hamilton’s move, when the topic of big name engineers from rival teams – including Aston Martin – potentially joining him was brought up.

“Ummm, I don’t know. I have no info and I don’t care what Lewis Hamilton is doing.”

Hamilton’s X44 leaving Extreme E

Lewis Hamilton’s X44 team has confirmed it won’t be participating in Extreme E this year, bringing an end to its three-year stay in the all-electric off-road category. While not linked to the recent news of Hamilton’s impending move to Ferrari, the …

Lewis Hamilton’s X44 team has confirmed it won’t be participating in Extreme E this year, bringing an end to its three-year stay in the all-electric off-road category.

While not linked to the recent news of Hamilton’s impending move to Ferrari, the team’s participation in this year was thrown into doubt when Rodin made no mention of Extreme E in its plans for 2024 when it confirmed it was assuming full control of Carlin. X44 was run by Carlin in 2023, taking over from Prodrive which operated the entry in 2021 and ’22.

“After three years as part of the Extreme E family, we’re today announcing that X44 will be departing the series,” the team said in a statement. “We’ve had an incredible three seasons competing as X44, winning multiple races and even a world championship.

“Thank you to our drivers Cristina Gutierrez, Fraser McConnell and Sebastien Loeb, and all our talented teammates who worked hard to help us achieve everything we did. Even more than the results on track, we’re proud to have been part of a bigger conversation about how to make motorsport more sustainable, of our success in giving people from all kinds of backgrounds an opportunity to thrive in this team, and of the legacy our team owner Lewis will leave behind with the Racing for All program.”

X44 leaves Extreme E as its second-most successful team behind Rosberg X Racing, with four event wins in three seasons, a qualifying sweep across 2021, and a championship title in 2022. Gutierrez, who will race for NEOM McLaren this year, drove for the team for the entirety of its run in Extreme E, being joined by Loeb for the first two seasons, and McConnell last year.

While the team won’t be competing this season, it has left the door open to returning once the series transitions to hydrogen fuel cell cars, a move that will take place next year.

“Although we won’t be competing ourselves in 2024, we’ll be cheering on the series from the sidelines and keeping an eye on the exciting developments at Extreme H,” said the team’s statement. “Thank you for all your support.”

The options for Mercedes and Sainz

Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari in 2025 sent shockwaves through Formula 1 last week, and the ripples are still being felt far and wide. Not only is there massive anticipation as to what a Hamilton and Ferrari partnership is going to look …

Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari in 2025 sent shockwaves through Formula 1 last week, and the ripples are still being felt far and wide.

Not only is there massive anticipation as to what a Hamilton and Ferrari partnership is going to look like next year, but there’s the knock-on impact on the team he’s leaving, as well as the driver that he is replacing.

For Mercedes, it’s a strangely familiar situation. When Nico Rosberg stunned the team by opting to retire with immediate effect after becoming world champion in 2016, it suddenly had a highly-coveted seat that nobody had expected to be available.

The same is true now, although with two clear differences. One, the seat isn’t quite as valuable as it was when Mercedes was dominating so much, with Red Bull now the clear best car. And two, there’s a lot more time to work out who Mercedes wants to select, and a huge number of drivers out of contract and therefore available to join.

Back in 2016, the driver market had already played out and there were very few current race drivers definitely free to be signed that Mercedes would have wanted. It had to come to an agreement with Williams to secure Valtteri Bottas, while Williams in turn needed to secure the agreement of Felipe Massa to come out of retirement.

This time around, only Max Verstappen and the Ferrari (yes, by that I include Hamilton in 2025) and McLaren drivers are under contract. George Russell obviously is too but in a Mercedes seat, with the remaining 14 drivers awaiting their next deal. That means there are so many potential candidates to be Hamilton’s replacement.

Within those are varying types of driver, and Toto Wolff admits he’s looking forward to working out which direction to head in next alongside Russell.

“Of course with all the Lewis discussion something that has not been talked enough is George,” Wolff said. “George has the potential to be the next lead driver in the team. He’s of the generation of Lando [Norris] and [Charles] Leclerc and some of the others, and I couldn’t wish for a new team leader when Lewis leaves, no doubt about that.

“So we have such a solid foundation, such a quick and talented and intelligent guy in the car, that we just need to take the right choice for the second driver, the second seat. That’s not something I want to be rushed in.

“I guess that a few contracts have been signed a few weeks ago that we could have looked at, that could have been interesting, but the timing here bit us a bit. But in a way I always like change because change provides opportunity and in the same way we’ve embraced the Nico situation – and that was equally from one moment to the other unexpected – I’m really looking forward in taking the right decisions for the team, together with my colleagues, in who’s going to be in the seat next year, and maybe it’s a chance to do something bold.”

If Mercedes wants to pair Russell with someone of a similar generation who needs a chance to try and prove themselves in a front-running seat again, then Alex Albon likely tops that list. Albon’s time at Williams has been hugely impressive and he has evolved into a team leader who is able to consistently deliver under pressure for a team that only gets a select few chances for strong results.

Although it recently came to light that Albon is under contract at Williams for 2025, I understand there has been interest shown from Mercedes and Red Bull and this week’s comments from James Vowles suggests an agreement could be reached.

Alex Albon could be an option for Mercedes, despite being under contract. Jake Grant/Motorsport Images

Albon is 27 but has only made 81 grand prix starts, compared to another clear option in the form of Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard has another 100 starts over Albon and has proven himself in race-winning machinery, offering a very solid all-round option for Mercedes and great experience in terms of race starts and teams driven for – Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren and Ferrari – all before he’s even turned 30.

That should make Sainz one of the frontrunners for the Mercedes seat, but also any other vacancy aside from perhaps Red Bull given his history with Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso. A seat swap with Hamilton would certainly make sense, but given the quality of some of the other candidates he’s part of a fierce battle for the drive.

His fellow Spaniard could well be a bold option that Wolff speaks of. Fernando Alonso has proven at Aston Martin that he’s lost none of his skills as he moves further into his forties, and has been a supporter of Russell’s for many years. Their strong relationship make an Alonso-Mercedes partnership far more conceivable, especially as it would be the closest thing in terms of pairing one of the best drivers with one of the most successful teams as Hamilton and Ferrari.

There’s another attractive aspect to opting for Alonso, as a similarly short-term deal to the one Hamilton signed would buy a bit of time to analyze the complete opposite end of the spectrum in Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The Italian youngster is a name you might well have heard of by now, having been part of the Mercedes set-up since he was 11, and sensational in karts before also winning two Formula 4 title last year. Mercedes is so excited by his potential that he has skipped Formula 3 completely to race for Prema in Formula 2, and how he fares will be fascinating to watch.

A strong year only furthers the feeling that Antonelli will be in F1 sooner rather than later, while a title-contending one might just put him in the frame for a Mercedes drive himself. Mercedes opted to blood Russell at Williams for a number of seasons but it didn’t have an immediate vacancy like it does for 2025, and was fighting for titles.

Wolff insisted he “would rather not start any speculation about Kimi going into F1 at this stage” when asked about the potential of Antonelli being the bold choice he speaks of, but had been offered the opportunity to say it’s too soon and declined to do so.

It’s just another option of many that cover pretty much every base that Mercedes wants. Reserve driver Mick Schumacher, former junior Esteban Ocon – there are numerous that the team has links to and good knowledge of, too.

That doesn’t play into the hands of Sainz so much in that he faces stiff competition despite the level of performance he can offer, and he’s now facing a situation where he is more likely to have to wait on Mercedes than the other way around.

It’s a seat that could come his way, but if not then he needs to be ready to react to the ripples Wolff’s decision will create, and realistically hope it’s not Antonelli who gets the nod in order to open up a space elsewhere.

Both the Mercedes seat and Sainz are highly attractive propositions, and surely someone is going to snap the two-time race winner up – with Audi long rumored to be suitors ahead of its entry in 2026 – but after Hamilton’s bombshell it’s now over to the team he’s departing to call the shots.

Hamilton changed his mind about his future during the off-season, Wolff says

Toto Wolff admits he was surprised by the timing of Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari, saying that the seven-time world champion’s mind changed since the holidays. Hamilton will move to Ferrari in 2025 after activating a break clause in the …

Toto Wolff admits he was surprised by the timing of Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari, saying that the seven-time world champion’s mind changed since the holidays.

Hamilton will move to Ferrari in 2025 after activating a break clause in the two-year contract he signed with Mercedes in the second part of last year. Team principal Wolff says he felt Hamilton was committed heading into the Christmas break but was then told on Wednesday morning over breakfast that the 39-year-old had opted to move on.

“When we re-signed the contract with Lewis we opted for shorter-term, so the events are not a surprise, but maybe the timing is,” Wolff said. “What happened is that we got together for coffee in my place in Oxford, with him returning to the factory [this week], and he said to me that he has decided to race for Ferrari in 2025. That was basically it and we had a good hour of conversation and this is where we are.

“I cannot tell you exactly; all I know is that we were very aligned when we went in to the Christmas period and I think we have said that in public and in the team. You need to ask Lewis why he changed his mind.

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“How he framed it to me is perfectly understandable — he needed a new challenge and he was looking for a different environment and this was maybe the last possibility to do something else.

“We are big boys — we knew that signing a short-term contract could be of benefit to both sides. We couldn’t commit for a longer period and he has taken the option to exit. So, in a way, we totally respect that you can change your mind in different circumstances, and switching to Ferrari maybe for the last peak in his career, maybe rolling the dice a bit, I can follow that decision.”

Expanding on the discussion, Wolff says he didn’t try to change Hamilton’s mind once he was informed of the decision to leave, and that he was always aware of the allure of Ferrari.

“Yes, because every race driver dreams about being in a red overall and in the red car,” he conceded. “We’ve discussed it many times before that this would be exciting to do one day. But over the years we came to the conclusion that staying at Mercedes and finishing the legacy here is something that one can be proud of.

“But I never ignore the possibility of change — whether it’s Ferrari or another team — so this is what it is. The fact didn’t surprise me at all, maybe the timing; but I can understand where he was coming from and that was to protect the team’s interest going forward.”

Wolff is confident Mercedes continues to offer at least as much on the competition side as Ferrari does for Hamilton, but feels that ultimately the lure of driving a red car was too strong. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Wolff also insists Hamilton’s decision to leave is not a reflection on where Mercedes stands competitively, as he commits to winning more championships without his star driver.

“I think what he said is that he felt he needed change, and I can understand that. We have been together, I believe it was 12 years — I don’t know if any other driver has ever been that long with a team. We’ve had tremendous success, and we shared the opinion when we decided to sign that short-term contract that there may be opportunities for him and for us.

“Therefore, I think also one of the considerations was the opportunity to sign a longer-term contract with Ferrari and give it a really big go at the end of his career. We didn’t talk about whether the opportunity was better there or with us, because I don’t think you can say.

“At the end of the day, he is the most successful driver and we’ve had a sensational spell and journey together — that’s something that will go down in the history books and also in the Mercedes history books.

“But we’re the Mercedes Formula 1 team. We’re the best car brand in the world, a team with legacy and we want to finish this on a high in terms of his career. But I can promise you we will build another phase of success — more victories, more world championships in the years to come — and we will be looking back at this very, very good time with Lewis in the Mercedes.”