Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton are working normally at the moment but emotions will no doubt be high when the Briton’s move to Ferrari for next season becomes a reality, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said on Thursday.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur did not call for the early release of seven-time Formula One champion Hamilton and Wolff said the sport’s most successful driver would receive a fitting send-off after 11 years behind the wheel of Mercedes.
“There is no great emotion now that all this is over… (but) the last race together will be something very special, because we have had this wonderful partnership for so long,” Wolff said after the first free practice of Las Vegas Grand Prix, in the early hours of next Sunday.
“But, having said that, Lewis is not going away. Lewis will be on the grid next year in a Ferrari. We are not losing the person, we are just losing the driver. But we are embarking on a new future.”
Hamilton, 39, has struggled this season. He said he felt like walking away from Mercedes immediately after finishing 10th in Sao Paulo earlier this month, saying it was “a disastrous weekend” and the worst the car has ever been.
Wolff also attracted attention when he said in a recently published book that “everyone has an expiry date” and that the move to Ferrari meant he would not have to make the decision to get rid of Hamilton.
Last Thursday, Wolff reiterated that the quotes had been taken out of context and said the couple had now moved on from the issue.
Source: Terra
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