Wolff admits Hamilton’s exit partly a relief

Toto Wolff has hit reverse gear after suggesting Lewis Hamilton could be nearing his "expiration date".

The Mercedes boss had suggested the 39-year-old seven time world champion did him a favour by switching to Ferrari for 2025 and beyond.

"There is a reason why we only signed a one-plus-one-year contract," said Wolff. "We are in a sport where cognitive skills are extremely important and I think everyone has an expiration date."

Some days later, Wolff insisted he had been "taken out of context a little bit".

But he doesn’t hide that Hamilton’s move spared him a difficult conversation in the future, and made replacing the Briton with teenager Kimi Antonelli an easy decision.

Wolff said it was Carlos Sainz’s father who initially told him before the start of the 2024 season that "something is cooking" between Hamilton and Ferrari.

"That same afternoon I received calls from a few other drivers that were close to Charles Leclerc," he told the Guardian. "Fernando Alonso too. I said to Susie ’This is happening without us officially knowing.’"

But in the end, it spared him the pain of having to tell Hamilton his time at Mercedes was over because of age and declining performance.

"I would have done it," Wolff said, "but that would have been a real horror for me and for him."

It is rumoured that part of Ferrari’s pay deal with Hamilton involves on-car sponsorship of the seven time world champion’s non-alcoholic drink Almave.