Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff has claimed suggestions he is «happy» that Lewis Hamilton is leaving the team have taken his comments «out of context».
Hamilton is entering his last three races in Mercedes colours before his switch to Ferrari for next year, having won six F1 drivers’ titles in his time with the Brackley-based outfit that he joined in 2013.
It left Mercedes with a seat to fill alongside George Russell, with teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli selected to make the step up from Formula 2.
In the new Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane book, Wolff said that Hamilton’s decision to leave was a positive as «it avoids the moment where we need to tell the sport’s most iconic driver that we want to stop».
“There’s a reason why we only signed a one-plus-one-year contract,” he added.
“We’re in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important, and I believe everyone has a shelf life.»
That comment sparked media coverage and social media debate but speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, Wolff clarified: «You know that was taken a little bit out of context.
“What I was referring to was that all of us age, whether it is in a car, on a pitch, or as a manager or entrepreneur.
Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, in the garage
Photo by: Mark Sutton
“And that is what I am trying to do with myself; understand, ‘Am I going from great to good?’ Because good is not in Formula 1 anymore.
“Now contrary to my own self-assessment, I think we see with Lewis that he’s very much there when the car is right. And we haven’t been able to give him that car to perform his best, and that is a frustration that we share equally in the team, and for himself.
“But he’s very sharp. He’s different to when he was a 20-year-old, that’s certainly clear. But his experience and his race craft is tremendous.”
Hamilton has won two races in his Mercedes swansong year, ending a drought dating back to the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with an emotional victory at the British GP.
The 39-year-old also won the Belgian GP after team-mate George Russell, who crossed the finish line first, was disqualified for running underweight.
Russell is two points ahead of Hamilton heading into this weekend’s Las Vegas GP, with Mercedes shifting its attentions to 2025 having accepted it is unlikely to improve on fourth in the constructors’ standings.