As soon as the news broke out that Lewis Hamilton had decided to leave Mercedes for Ferrari, reports also started trickling out that speculated about the future of Toto Wolff at the helm of the Silver Arrows. However, the Austrian billionaire, who is also a 1/3rd shareholder in the team, has quelled those rumors with a strong signal of intent, hinting at a long-term future with the Brackley based Formula 1 team.
While he has committed himself to the team for at least three more years, his vision for stability in the team’s hierarchy is predominant to his conduct at the team. He was quoted by GPBlog.com as explaining, “I am going to always be part of this team as a shareholder but I felt that I am able to make my best contribution as Team Principal and CEO. Last year allowed me to reflect on the areas that I can improve and that was important to give me perspective for the years to come.”
F1: F1 News: Toto Wolff On Mercedes Future – “Always Part Of The Team As A Shareholder” – Sports Illustrated https://t.co/0yZ7Qg7rdJ
— Mark Beacham – VK3XB/5Z4XB/A65B (@MarkBeacham) February 14, 2024
One key factor in strengthening Wolff’s commitment to the team was the revival and extension of James Allison’s role in the team. After a hiatus in 2022 when served as chief technical officer at Ineos Team UK Britannia’s America’s Cup team, Allison returned to team as their technical director in 2023, and has now himself committed himself for the longer-term with the team.
While the upper echelons of Mercedes’ management has preserved its strengths, the loss of Lewis Hamilton is going to sting the Silver Arrows in their driving and marketing department, for sure.
Mercedes have lost more than just a 7-time world champion in Lewis Hamilton
While Lewis Hamilton has won Mercedes 8 constructors’ titles since 2013 owing to his exploits on track, he has been a bigger impact player for the team on the financial side of things, too. Given his stature in the sport, the Silver Arrows were able to attract many big sponsors that happily agreed to dole out millions to be associated with the seven-time world champion.
Ferrari got a pretty handsome taster of this, too. No sooner had the announcement been made that Hamilton would be joining the Scuderia from 2025 onwards, the Maranello-based team earned a whopping $10 billion in revenue from a surge in stock prices alone.
“It was probably now or never”
Pierre Gasly on Lewis Hamilton’s “interesting” switch to Ferrari in 2025 pic.twitter.com/kks15Z5gvF
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) February 8, 2024
Hamilton himself is setting himself up with a pretty outrageous contract. As per the reports, Hamilton is going to join the team on a record-breaking $100,000,000 a year salary. While this would make him the highest paid driver in F1, Ferrari chairman, John Elkann has personally assured the Brit that the team will fund his off track activities, including Mission44. While this would set back the team around $600+ million dollars, they’ve already recovered that a some more with the billions of dollars Hamilton has earned with a single tweet.
Financials aside, this Hamilton Ferrari alliance could bear one of the most iconic stories in Formula 1. Hamilton is in search for that elusive 8th world title while Ferrari are keen to end their 16-year old championship drought. With both parties highly motivated, this could possibly end up being a historic alliance.
