Wolff opens up on Mercedes' intra-team atmosphere after Hamilton's departure
While Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff praised Lewis Hamilton’s legacy in Formula One, the Austrian emphasized that the time was right for both sides to move on.
Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes at the end of previous season to join Ferrari for 2025. The seven-time F1 champion suffered a rocky start to the current season, having struggled for pace in Australia.
However, the Briton went on to secure pole position for the Shanghai sprint before dominating the 19-lap race. The following Suzuka round turned out to be a difficult weekend for Hamilton as he struggled for pace in qualifying while he also suffered from higher tyre degradation than his direct rivals experienced.
The 40-year-old then appeared to be more comfortable in his SF-25 in Bahrain, but he failed to put a good lap together in the last qualifying segment, ending up only ninth on the grid. However, he finally displayed encouraging race pace at the Bahrain Grand Prix, pursuing an offset strategy to move up to grid to a fifth-place finish thanks to a series of brilliant overtaking manoeuvres.
Although Ferrari struggled for pace last time out in Miami, the seven-time F1 champion displayed a clear step forward both in qualifying trim and in race trim, showing a more promising pace in all conditions and delivering an improved tyre management.
With Lewis Hamilton now at Ferrari, Toto Wolff reflected on the changing dynamic at Mercedes after 12 years of partnership. While he praised Hamilton’s legacy, Wolff emphasized that the time was right for both sides to move on.
"First of all, I want to avoid some headlines. We're still great friends with Lewis. I spent a lot of time with him, traveling, and I’m still seeing him. It came to a point last year where, you know, it's like spending 12 years in a row on holiday with your best friend.
"At a certain stage you say, well, maybe do something else this time around. And for Lewis, he needed a refresher, a reinvention. Ferrari is iconic, no doubt about that. Certainly he also got terms that were interesting for him.
"And with us, Kimi was in the starting blocks – eventually it was this year or it would have been next year to bring him in. Bringing him in this year means we have a learning year before new regulations kick in. He's going to know all the tracks, which for example, this one he’s never been to, and that felt like the right decision.
Asked about the atmosphere inside the garage, Wolff said that the dynamic has changed since the departure of the seven-time F1 champion.
"Lewis was part of the family. As a racing driver, he knew exactly what he wanted and the engineers and mechanics knew him. He knew them. We got along. You have good days, bad days, strengths and weaknesses. But when you know someone that well, it's easy to manage that.
"Now the dynamic is different. George has massively stepped up as a senior driver in the team. Kimi is almost like the young brother that's come in.
"They work well together, which is very pleasing to see. Kimi doesn't stress too much, he's just building up constantly. And on George, you can rely on him when it comes to lap times and racing. So spirits are high," Wolff concluded.
