FÓRMULA-1

Wolff: I won’t complain if Hamilton goes to another team

Toto Wolff said he is “absolutely sure Lewis Hamilton will stay at Mercedes, but he “wouldn’t complain at all” if Hamilton prefers to go to another team if Mercedes doesn’t give him a car capable of winning again and the coveted 8th championship.

With Hamilton’s contract expiring at the end of 2023, Wolff said:

I have no idea what it’s called in the silly season, but I know where we are with Lewis and with George and nothing else is relevant. We talk about when we want to do it and how. We just need to change some terms, basically the dates.

Asked if he was confident Hamilton would stay at Mercedes beyond the end of 2023, Wolff replied:

I am absolutely sure. I don’t think Lewis will leave Mercedes. He’s at the stage in his career where we trust each other, we’ve built a great bond and we have no reason to doubt each other, even though that’s very hard to say. How nice it will be when we get out of this tearful phase and get back to solid performances.

As a driver, however, if he wants to win another championship, he needs to make sure he has the car to do so. And if we can’t prove that we can give him the car in the next two years, then he has to look everywhere. I don’t think he does at this stage. But I won’t have any complaints if that happens in a year or two.

Wolff added that he had no problem with Hamilton’s public criticism of Mercedes after the Bahrain GP, ​​where Hamilton said the team did not listen to concerns about the car’s development.

We talk all the time and a word doesn’t matter in the group because we know each other so well. Sometimes you say something that the media is very quick to translate in a controversial or polarizing way. Within the group it never causes any waves because we know that emotions can be strong. If I see that we are behind in speed or in a race we did not do well, I would also like to say that I am not happy with the development of the car.

But it does not bother. Within the team we want the feeling to be high and we have tough love. We speak our mind directly about what’s missing and no one is ever going to get it wrong.

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