Wolff reckons the past seasons do not overshadow what Hamilton has achieved with Mercedes

Following Lewis Hamilton’s final race with Mercedes, the Brackley-based outfit’s team boss Toto Wolff reckons that the past three tough season will not overshadow the utterly successful spell of the Briton.

Lewis Hamilton announced his shock departure from Mercedes on the 1st of February. The announcement caught the Formula One community by surprise, as the seven-time world champion was set to race for the Brackley-based outfit until the end of 2025.

However, an exit clause in his contract allowed Hamilton to leave the team in 2025 if he wished, and the Briton elected to terminate his contract at the end of the current season and seek for a new challenge at Ferrari next year.

Hamilton is statistically the most successful driver in the history of Formula One, tied with the great German seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher on the number of world championship titles.

Asked how much the last three seasons will overshadow Hamilton’s utterly successful stint at Mercedes, the Brackley-based outfit’s team boss Toto Wolff said that it will have no effect on the perception of the Briton’s 13-year period with the German marque.

“It’s the most competitive motorsport in the world and we were lucky and blessed with winning eight consecutive World Championship titles. That wasn’t done before in any other sport. And Lewis won seven Drivers’ championships. You cannot extrapolate from that that you’re going to win forever or that you’re in the hunt for every single championship. That doesn’t happen.

“And the regs were changed twice and we maintained the level of performance and won championships. And then we’ve just been caught out by these new regulations in 2022.

“Until today, we’re just not able to put steady performance on the car and provide the drivers with something that is predictable, that has enough downforce, that doesn’t bounce or hop, that rides where the ride is acceptable, where the tyre degradation can be managed in the right way and not be too cold or too hot. And that is how sport goes. That’s very easy.”

Wolff explained that even the most successful period cannot last for ever which means that a less successful season should not be viewed as a failure.

“I don’t know where I read that or where I heard that, but a basketballer was asked whether he felt, doesn’t anybody know this specific quote, whether he felt that his season was a failure. And he said, Michael Jordan played how many seasons? 10 seasons, I’m making this up now, 10 seasons in the NBA or 12 seasons in the NBA and he won four.

“Does that mean that the whole thing was a failure? Did anybody read that? Yeah, and what did he say exactly? Michael Jordan played 12 seasons or whatever, he won six championships… Were the other six a failure?

“And I think we’ve been together 12 years now in this championship and we won eight. Are the other ones a failure? We finished third two years ago, we finished second last year, bearing in mind we haven’t won a race, and we won three this year. So that is not all a failure.

“That was a pretty good spell for Mercedes and for Lewis. And we will be trying to do it better. We are trying to do it better every single day, every single weekend. And the same will be next season and then the big one in ‘26.”