Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Toto Wolff reveals EARLY champion exit talks

Lewis Hamilton

Wolff reveals EARLY Hamilton Mercedes exit talks

Lewis Hamilton could have made an earlier Mercedes exit

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 17 December 2024 19:54

Toto Wolff has revealed that Lewis Hamilton engaged in early Mercedes exit talks following a championship loss.

The seven-time world champion recently embarked on his farewell tour with the team ahead of his Ferrari move, following a difficult final season with Mercedes.

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Hamilton’s 2024 stands in stark contrast to his former success at Mercedes, as the champion struggled to extract pace from the W15 and was often bested by team-mate George Russell in qualifying.

Regardless of this year’s results, the 39-year-old leaves behind an incredible legacy with the team, where he acquired six of his world titles and aided Mercedes to eight constructors’ championships.

Lewis Hamilton leaves behind an incredible legacy at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton recently embarked on a farewell tour at Mercedes

Toto Wolff reflects on Lewis Hamilton’s time at Mercedes

However, one of Hamilton's most testing campaigns with Mercedes was during the 2016 season, where he went up against rival and team-mate Nico Rosberg once again.

The 2016 season was defined by several controversial moments between the pair, including collisions in Austria and Spain as they vied for the championship.

In a recent appearance on the Beyond the Grid podcast, team principal Toto Wolff reflected on their rivalry and Rosberg’s championship victory, where he revealed that Hamilton discussed a possible exit following the title loss.

"The championship was pretty much resolved, and rather than leaving the two out there to race each other, and even if that meant bunching into the traffic, we tried to make it super correct, and he was upset about that," Wolff said.

"[We] spent, I don’t know, many, many hours together discussing the situation, and I said to him, do you want to continue with Mercedes? And he said yes.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton's time as team-mates was fraught with controversy

"I said, ‘Well, I couldn’t imagine anybody else having you in the car. So if we decide here that this is a mutual wish of ours, we need to sort it out.’

"And I think we left that afternoon with a solid bond that then grew from strength to strength."

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes George Russell Toto Wolff