With season seven of Netflix’s critically acclaimed docuseries on the sport ‘Drive to Survive’ set to premiere later this week, clips from the show have been doing the rounds of social media. One such clip shows Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, reacting to the news of Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari.
After 12 years with the Silver Arrows, Hamilton decided to jump ship to the Maranello-based team from 2025 onwards. This prompted the Austrian to say, “Why would he do this?”
Wolff explained that he was shocked by the #44 driver’s decision to leave the team. In fact, he was equally taken aback by the timing of his decision — just days before the 2024 season began and only months after he had signed a contract extension with the Brackley-based squad.
But Hamilton‘s fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to lambast the 53-year-old. One fan even wrote, “I need you to engineer some shame.”
“Why would he do that now? ” Like he hasn’t already been through it, breaking his back so bad he limped out of the car in Baku? Torger, I need you to engineer some shame. Quick!! pic.twitter.com/aAnxd9koXp
— Hamilton Insights (@LH44_insights) March 4, 2025
Another fan suggested some possible reasons for Hamilton’s departure. The aim, unsurprisingly, was to take a dig at Wolff for playing ‘victim’.
„Why would he do this now?“
Because you only gave him a 1+1 year contract and he had to make a move otherwise he would have been out of a seat.
DTS is just going to be Toto and Horner playing the victim card non stop♀️
— Stefanie (@fastpitstop) March 4, 2025
lets totally believe something toto wolff said while the netflix cameras were rolling and use it to hate on lewis #okman #sure
— sim (@simsgazette) March 4, 2025
The biggest gripe that the seven-time world champion’s fans have with Wolff is that they feel the 40-year-old was mistreated and pushed out of the team. This came after Mercedes only offered Hamilton a one-year extension in 2023, with an option to extend for another year.
Reportedly, Hamilton had asked for a long-term contract. Moreover, after the announcement of his switch, Wolff made comments about every driver having a ‘shelf-life’, including Hamilton and that was why the team did not want to commit to a long-term deal.
The #44 driver recently responded to that in a feature with TIME Magazine. “Don’t ever compare me to anybody else. I’m the first and only Black driver that’s ever been in this sport. I’m built different. I’m focused on one thing, and that’s winning. That’s my No. 1 priority,” he said.
Is everything good between Hamilton and Wolff?
Hamilton’s recent comments come as a scathing response to every critic he has had — including Wolff and his earlier comments surrounding Hamilton’s exit from Mercedes. This beckons to consider whether the relationship between the duo has soured over the last year.
Throughout the 2024 season, Hamilton had been very vocal about his struggles with the Mercedes concept and the fact that he couldn’t wait for the year to end so that he could join Ferrari. This further fueled the speculation of animosity between the once inseparable duo.
That said, the seven-time world champion was recently spotted leaving the Austrian’s apartment complex in the Principality of Monaco. Maybe the emotions have calmed down and the duo have seemingly patched up. Only time will tell.
