F1 News: Toto Wolff gives emotional response to SHOCK Hamilton exit

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff at the Dutch Grand Prix in 2023 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Wolff gives emotional response to SHOCK Hamilton exit

The pair have worked together since 2013

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 2 February 2024 17:57

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said that his team will 'look back with pride' at the years spent with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

It has been confirmed that Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025, accepting a new challenge in the hope of being able to claim an unprecedented eighth world title before his career is up.

The 39-year-old had only signed a new contract with Mercedes a few months ago which would keep him driving in the sport into his 40s, and this link up with the most successful team on the F1 grid is likely to see the Brit race until he's at least 42.

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His longevity in the sport is phenomenal, having claimed 103 race victories, the most in F1 history.

Most of those have come with Mercedes, as have six of his seven world championships, since he shocked the F1 paddock by joining the then-underperforming Brackley-based team in 2013.

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff shared a close working relationship

Lewis Hamilton's services have been poached by Ferrari for the 2025 season

Lewis Hamilton is known to have a good relationship with Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur

Hamilton's move to Ferrari confirmed

While the last two seasons have not seen the seven-time world champion be able to add to his tally of race wins due to poor car performance, it had been expected that Hamilton would stay with Mercedes until the end of his career.

However, this week's bombshell has blown that idea out of the water, with Wolff now left reflecting on what has been a brilliant 11 seasons together.

“In terms of a team-driver pairing, our relationship with Lewis has become the most successful the sport has seen, and that’s something we can look back on with pride; Lewis will always be an important part of Mercedes motorsport history," he told the official Mercedes website.

"However, we knew our partnership would come to a natural end at some point, and that day has now come. We accept Lewis’s decision to seek a fresh challenge, and our opportunities for the future are exciting to contemplate.

"But for now, we still have one season to go, and we are focused on going racing to deliver a strong 2024.”

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Toto Wolff