When there were rumors about Lewis Hamilton’s possible joining of the Ferrari team, the British athlete was forced to explain to the boss of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, that he was not conducting any negotiations with the rivals.
The promised contract extension between Hamilton and Mercedes was delayed for many months, which gave rise to various strong rumours. One of them indicated that Hamilton could make a decision to end his F1 career, while in the second case it was assumed that he was trying to “squeeze” good conditions for the contract with “Ferrari”. It was clearly known that the seven-time champion had been in contact with Ferrari management.
Later, however, Hamilton extended his commitment to Mercedes for another two years, but before that he apologized to Wolff that he was not going to switch to Ferrari.
“The announcement of a new contract was delayed, but it was clear that it will happen – Luis will stay with us,” explains Wolff in an interview with the Italian newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport”. “We are always very open with each other. Some time ago he told me that he had seen his lunch meeting with John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari. That I need to know – he’s not going anywhere. When the media wrote about a possible change of teams, Luis said: “Toto, I didn’t negotiate and I don’t understand where these rumors came from”. We signed the contract six months later, due to marketing and legal issues. I never had a millimeter of doubt.”
Another Mercedes driver, George Russell, also has a contract until the end of 2025, on whom Wolf puts all his hopes for the future.
“We still have a two-year contract with George, who is the future of the team and has grown up with Mercedes,” says the team boss. “He is the next generation after Hamilton. We are happy.”
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2023-10-18 10:55:40
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