Toto Wolff returned to the episode at the start of 2024 where he learned that something was happening between Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton before his driver announced his departure.
While the 2024 season had not started, Lewis Hamilton chose to join Scuderia Ferrari for the 2025 season, thus ending his chapter with the Mercedes team.
Toto Wolff had already indicated that the seven-time world champion had announced the news to him live, but the Mercedes team director had in fact started to feel the wind turning in recent days.
“I heard the bells ringing two weeks ago,” he reveals on the High Performance Podcast. “Father Sainz called me and told me that’s what was happening.”
The Sainz clan was in fact also “a victim” of this incredible transfer, since it deprived the Spaniard of keeping his wheel at Ferrari beyond the 2024 season.
Also read: Sainz doesn't understand why he wasn't chosen by Red Bull or Mercedes
A message to Fred Vasseur… left unanswered
“And then there were a few pilots’ fathers who called me even though they hadn’t done so before,” continues Wolff. “So I thought something was going on. So I sent a message to Fred Vasseur to tell him: 'You take our pilot', with a question mark. I didn't get a response. This is very unusual for Fred. He's a good friend. So yeah, I saw it coming.”
“But of course, when Lewis came home, like he had so many years before, and we had a little chat, like we always do about Christmas vacation and everything else… And then I said: 'Well, we're recruiting at Ferrari now. We got this guy.' And Lewis said, 'Oh, there's something I need to tell you.' ”
“And when he said that, that first moment was kind of… 'So this is really happening. I can't imagine you anywhere other than Mercedes'. But instantly, it's like, okay, what do we do with this? And yes, it’s also an opportunity, as I said before.”
Toto Wolff was then asked why he didn't ask Lewis Hamilton more quickly what was going on after Carlos Sainz Sr's call.
“It was a situation where I just wanted to see how things went, and leave it up to him [Hamilton] and to Fred [Vasseur] to tell me that they were doing that,” he replied.
Also read: Wolff reflects on Hamilton's departure, “everyone has a shelf life”
