Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff had created a dynasty at Mercedes since the turn of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014. But after winning eight consecutive Constructors’ titles, the Silver Arrows dropped the ball during the ground-effect era of the sport. That said, their decline had already started the year prior when Lewis Hamilton lost out on his eighth world title against Max Verstappen under controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi in 2021.
Speaking about that day, and Mercedes’ subsequent struggles, Wolff reminisced about his relationship with Hamilton. On the High-Performance podcast, the Austrian businessman revealed how the duo helped each other overcome their demons.
“He’s come a long way to cope with difficult moments that he had in the past and that we had you know, there were times where I was helping him to overcome such situations and the same way the other way around is also what made our relationship so strong that we’ve seen each other on the worst moments,” he explained.
During the podcast, Wolff delved deeper into his own past and childhood. He didn’t come from money and his father passed away after a grueling battle with cancer when he was just 15. Hamilton, on the other hand, had to brave racism and stereotypes while his father worked four jobs to ensure his son had a racing career to fight for.
Hence, there was a certain amount of relatability regarding the struggles that built them up. That said, with how this season has been panning out, their relationship seems to have taken a big hit.
Can Hamilton and Wolff salvage their relationship after Mercedes split?
As the 2024 season winds down to a close, a lot of discussions behind closed doors are now being made public. On the podcast, Wolff hinted at Hamilton keeping his move to Ferrari a secret which also led to him losing chances to negotiate with other drivers.
Wolff even went on to say that the team were never really planning on keeping the #44 driver tied down to the team for long. He acknowledged that Hamilton too had a “shelf life” and that was why they were only willing to offer him a 1+1 year deal.
Certain comments made by Wolff have not gone down too well with Hamilton’s fans. In any case, the Briton himself has been very critical about the Silver Arrows and has called the team out publicly on several occasions this season, when things haven’t gone the way he wanted them to.
