Over the winter, Lewis Hamilton told Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff that he intended to join Ferrari for 2025. And thus the most successful partnership in Formula 1 history came to an end.
Hamilton has won six world championships since he joined Mercedes in 2013. That’s the most for any driver at a single team, surpassing Michael Schumacher’s five with Ferrari (2000-2004).
But the last few years have been a struggle. Mercedes have struggled to truly get to grips with F1’s ground-effect cars, and Hamilton hasn’t been able to win a race since the end of 2021.
This year has been the most difficult yet, with the Silver Arrows already a whopping 175 points behind Red Bull in the standings. They’ve failed to score a podium in the first six races for the first time since 2011.
With all of this happening on track and Hamilton preparing for a move to Ferrari, it seems inevitable that his relationship with Wolff would suffer. Publicly, the Austrian says he’s remained a ‘true professional’.
Behind the scenes, however, Wolff is nursing an ‘open wound’ following the Ferrari bombshell. And Hamilton is tired of ‘waiting for answers’ as he watches Red Bull disappear into the distance.
Lewis Hamilton was unhappy that Toto Wolff hired George Russell
Speaking on his YouTube channel, journalist Peter Windsor pointed to another possible source of tension between Hamilton and Wolff. The Englishman was apparently unhappy that the team axed Valtteri Bottas for George Russell back in 2021.
Mercedes confirmed in September of that year that their young driver Russell would join for the beginning of 2022. That brought to an end Bottas’ five-season spell with the team.
According to Windsor, the Finn was ‘a very good teammate’ for F1’s most successful driver. But because Russell has been more of a threat, Hamilton has been a little unsettled.
“To me, it’s still an unanswered question why he signed George to replace Valtteri because Valtteri was a very good teammate to Lewis,” he said. “Lewis has never really been happy with George as we’ve said from day one, because basically George is quicker.”
Russell was able to beat Hamilton in their first year as teammates, scoring 275 points to the veteran’s 240. He’s also responsible for the team’s only one victory during their partnership – the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton struck back last year when he finished five spots ahead, but Russell has dominated so far this term. He leads 5-1 in both the qualifying and race-day head-to-heads.
Mika Hakkinen warns Lewis Hamilton about Charles Leclerc
When he leaves Mercedes at the end of this year, Hamilton will strike up a new partnership with Charles Leclerc. Esteban Ocon regards the 26-year-old as one of the two most naturally talented drivers on the grid, alongside Max Verstappen.
He’s won five Grands Prix in his career so far and taken 23 poles and 33 podiums. If Hamilton wants to sign off in dream fashion by winning a record eighth title in scarlet red, he’ll have to go through the Monegasque.
Leclerc’s old teammate Sebastian Vettel thinks it will be a ‘difficult’ dynamic for Ferrari to manage. And double world champion Mika Hakkinen has warned that he can cause Hamilton ‘problems’.
But former F1 driver Robert Doornbos is concerned that Leclerc won’t hold up under the pressure of competing with a legendary figure. He says he’s ‘too nice’ to prevail if they end up in a title fight.
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