Sir Lewis Hamilton shocked the F1 universe when he announced that he would leave Mercedes at the end of the 2024 season. His announcement came very early this year. Surely, it was a tough pill for Toto Wolff to swallow. After all, the Austrian billionaire executive and the seven-time champion driver joined the Silver Arrows in the same year. Since then, the status of the German outfit in Formula 1 has changed dramatically. Previously, the Brackley team did not look like championship-winning material. But as the era of turbo-hybrid engines kicked in, there was no stopping Mercedes. For eight straight years, Wolff led the team to win every constructor title. Obviously, Lewis Hamilton was the team’s biggest strength.
The great Briton went on to win six Driver’s World Championships, adding to his maiden title back in 2008. As a result, Mercedes helped Hamilton equal the great Michael Schumacher’s record of seven titles. However, when the regulations changed in 2022, the German team fell down pretty hard from the summit. Since last year, they have been winless because they have not managed to fix their issues with the car. After a two-year slump, Hamilton decided to switch to Ferrari. This news came as a pretty big shock for Mercedes fans. Now, these fans wonder if Lewis Hamilton will betray Wolff for his new team.
Is Lewis Hamilton Betraying Toto Wolff While Having Regular Communication With Fred Vasseur?
When the seven-time champion announced his switch to Ferrari, he said his Maranello journey would begin next year. Until then, he wants to help Mercedes win a few more races and, if possible, one more title before he bids his final goodbyes to the Silver Arrows. However, he had a terrible start to the 2024 season. It has been his worst start to a season till date in his 17 year long career. According to Essentially Sports, after some recent turn of events, it seems the Briton’s betrayal of Toto Wolff is continuing to materialize. During the 2024 Miami Grand Prix press conference, Lewis Hamilton mentioned that he has regular conversations with the Italian car manufacturing team. Moreover, he mentioned regular communications that take place between him and Fred Vasseur, as well as John Elkann.
Clearly, Hamilton is cognitively already there on the Maranello team. Anyway, he always had a good relationship with his future Ferrari team principal. After all, Fred Vasseur had known him since F2 days. But the Mercedes fans won’t like the fact that Hamilton is already gearing up for his move to Ferrari. However, Lewis Hamilton in his defense constantly mentions that his aim for 2024 is to take the fight to Scuderia. Nevertheless, the Silver Arrows continues to suffer in the cost cap era. However, Toto Wolff mentioned that Miami GP might be better for them with new upgrades.
Why Toto Wolff Is Hopeful About Miami GP?
Mercedes had a disappointing weekend in China. However, they had a much better time in the sprint race. Anyhow, they did not come out of Shanghai with a performance they wanted. But Toto Wolff tried to raise hopes of the Mercedes fans lately. He said they will bring new upgrades to Miami that should help them perform much better.
However, the problem with introducing new upgrades in Miami is that they will have just one practice session to assess the performance that the new changes will bring to the table. But as per Toto Wolff, his team will try to match the pace of McLaren and Ferrari. They are not thinking about catching up to Red Bull anymore.
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