F1 Drive to Survive: Guenther Steiner hands Wolff BOLD advice in Hamilton replacement hunt

Hamilton, Verstappen, Red Bull, Mercedes, Bahrain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Steiner hands Wolff BOLD advice in Hamilton replacement hunt

Guenther Steiner believes Toto Wolff should wait for Mercedes driver pick

Originally written by Shay Rogers. This version is a translation.

Sunday 3 March 2024 04:57

Drive to Survive legend Guenther Steiner has weighed in on Mercedes' need to replace Lewis Hamilton when he leaves the team at the end of the season.

The Brit will drive for Ferrari in 2025, leaving Toto Wolff scrambling around to replace him in a crowded upcoming free agent driver market.

Two years without a race victory left the Brit hungry for a new project, but also means that the German manufacturer have a big hole to fill in one of their cars.

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There are plenty of options on the market, with a plethora of drivers out of contract soon – affording Wolff the opportunity to pick between experience and speed.

Candidates mentioned range from Esteban Ocon to Andrea Kimi Antonelli and even Sebastian Vettel – it could make for one of the biggest shakeups to the grid in history.

Toto Wolff has been Mercedes boss for 11 years

Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025

Gunether Steiner led Haas F1 team for nearly a decade

Steiner: Toto's in a very good position

Former Haas boss Guenther Steiner believes that Toto Wolff is doing the right thing by waiting to make a decision.

“Obviously they have got the young driver Kimi Antonelli in Formula 2, which he’s a prodigy of Mercedes since, I don’t know how many years.

“Maybe he’s a talent like Max Verstappen, which came out of the old Formula 3 straight into Formula 1. If Kimi can do the same, I think Toto can take the gamble because he’s about the same age.

“Otherwise, he has got older drivers without a contract he can pick from and he’s in no hurry because none of these guys will make a move before that seat is full. Why would they? I would wait. I would do the same as Toto, I would wait!”

Mercedes have a lot of work to do on-track if they want to convince some of the highly sought-after talents to join their operation after a few poor seasons.

It’s part of the reason why Lewis Hamilton opted against staying with the team for 2025 and beyond, having clearly lost some faith in them comparative to Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Toto Wolff Sebastian Vettel Esteban Ocon