Toto Wolff claims Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher: The boss of Mercedes F1 team considers his Top Two players as ‘best ever’.
Former racer and current CEO of Mercedes, Toto Wolff has claimed the franchise’s legendary racer Michael Schumacher and current one in Lewis Hamilton as the ‘best ever’ seen in Formula 1’s history.
Having won his fifth driver’s championship last year, Hamilton leveled with Juan Manuel Fangio’s total of five championships. Among the current racers, Hamilton is currently at the second spot but is still two championships behind Schumacher.
Speaking to The National, Wolff asserted his opinion about Schumacher and Hamilton. Talking precisely about Hamilton, he didn’t shy away from saying that his achievements will be truly valued post his retirement.
“Lewis, in my opinion, along with Michael, are the best we have ever seen. We’re only going to realise when he retires one day. We tend to never acknowledge somebody’s great performance while it happens,” Wolff was quoted as saying.
Laying emphasis on the general perception of not appreciating someone’s achievements whilst it is happening, Wolff hoped of the same happening in the future.
“We are always full of the types of people who retire or die. But they are never saying ‘This guy is really unbelievable, we’re alive to witness an exceptional performer’. I think we should recognise that while we are still racing,” Wolff said.
Having won four out of six constructor championship, Wolff and Hamilton’s partnership has yielded abundant success for Mercedes. Highlighting his ‘brutal honest’ relationship with Hamilton, the boss was clear in his words while expressing admiration for the 34-year old racer.
“The way he has developed as a human is exceptional. He’s become a strong pillar of winning with the team, which is rather unusual for a driver; your driver is more complaining about the team than praising, and he praises.
“We have an environment of brutal honesty with each other. So, if things go wrong, we go into the meeting and we say: ‘That was wrong, that was wrong, and that was wrong’,” Wolff concluded.
