Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff believes there are still “plenty of adventures” for Lewis Hamilton and himself to “embark on” when his time in Formula 1 with Ferrari comes to an end.
The seven-time World Champion is officially a Ferrari driver as we enter into 2025, bringing an end to 12 seasons with the Silver Arrows.
Hamilton and Mercedes share the most successful partnership in the sport’s history with the British driver winning six of of seven world titles for the German outfit.
The 39-year-old also became a centurion with his 100th win in F1 after victory at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix as well as his 100th pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix in the same season – holding the record for the most wins and pole positions in history.
However, after leaving McLaren in a move that shook the paddock back in 2013, Hamilton once again stunned the world of F1 by ending his time with Mercedes to race in red for 2025.
But Wolff feels there will be a reunion at one point once Hamilton ends his F1 career with the Prancing Horse, as he hinted at a return in some capacity for the multiple World Champion.
“There is no such thing in an end to the relationship that Mercedes has with Lewis, neither what we as a team have nor I and Susie [Wolff, wife] personally,” he said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“On the contrary, I think Lewis has decided to do something else for the last part of his career, which I understand – or I can understand – but he’s always going to be part of that family and always welcome in the family.
“And one day, maybe when the driving ends, there’s going to be plenty of adventures we’re going to embark on.”
Wolff: Lauda deserved more ‘credit’ for Hamilton signing
One of the key reasons Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 was due to the influence of the late Niki Lauda.
The legendary three-time World Champion was a leading figure within the ranks of the team as he was appointed non-executive chairman of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.
Famously, Lauda persuaded Hamilton to join Mercedes in a hotel room at the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix.
“Without Niki, there wouldn’t be any Lewis with Mercedes,” Wolff said.
“I think Niki was so persistent in trying to convince him to join Mercedes and, particularly, he just scored the goal with him on that Sunday night in Singapore, where Lewis DNF’d with the McLaren and convinced him to join the team.
“Everything else just followed suit – I’m not sure Niki was ever given enough credit for that.
[He] took no prisoners – what’s the salary you want? – and convinced the board of Mercedes to do this.
“Niki was always a very good liaison between the team and Lewis in the first few years because he was talking as a three-time World Champion and had the respect of Lewis.
“Eventually it became the three of us and the whole team became one.
“We sometimes call drivers contractors: they come, you pay them well, if they don’t have the right car anymore and they’re getting paid well somewhere else, they leave.
“Lewis changed from a contractor to team member and that was because everybody else just embraced the notion of the team that we had then.”
The news first broke thanks to former F1 team owner, Eddie Jordan, at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix.
The Irishman recently revealed that he made regular visits to McLaren’s hospitality unit to talk to Hamilton on behalf of Lauda – whose connections to Mercedes meant he was not welcome in McLaren’s building in the paddock – therefore giving him the inside scoop.
“Niki Lauda used to push me into McLaren to go and speak to Lewis, to do all the little messaging for him, because he couldn’t do it because of the connection [with Mercedes],” Jordan said on the Formula For Success podcast.
“He was so strongly involved with Mercedes.”
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