Toto Wolff reveals true feelings about Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 move to Ferrari in candid new interview

Lewis Hamilton leaves Mercedes at the end of the season to drive for Ferrari. As a result, Toto Wolff will miss his star driver.

Hamilton shocked the F1 world earlier this year by confirming he would join the iconic Italian team from 2025, ending a ridiculously successful spell at Mercedes.

The 39-year-old has won six of his seven world titles with the team, but Mercedes have struggled in recent years with Red Bull dominating the drivers’ and constructors’ championships for the past two seasons.

Despite the announcement, the relationship between Hamilton and Mercedes team boss Wolff is still strong, but the 52-year-old admitted he is hurt by the way the transfer was handled.

Wolff blamed Ferrari for leaking the news, but also claimed he was not entirely surprised by Hamilton’s decision to switch teams.

“There is a professional and a personal relationship,” he told Sky Sports when asked about his dynamic with Hamilton after the announcement.

“When he signed a very short-term contract last year, it was clear that this could happen.

“What’s painful is that I didn’t have time to react. It was actually the same day. I said, ‘How are we going to announce this? At the beginning of the season or halfway through the season?’

Wolff claimed it was ‘obvious’ that the leaks came from Ferrari’s side.

He continued: “It was clear that it was leaking from Ferrari. That didn’t give me time to do stakeholder management, talk to sponsors, shareholders and explain what was happening. That was the only thing.

“But there is a good motto: ‘play hard, forgive quickly and apologize when you are wrong’. The personal relationship (with Hamilton) does not suffer. If I put myself in his shoes, I can understand it, because the team did not do so well.

“When you’re in the last phase of your career, everyone wants to wear a red jumpsuit with a yellow rearing horse. The financial terms were probably very positive as well. So I’ve got my head around it and I’m absolutely at peace with him in my relationship.

“We didn’t part as friends.”

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur strongly denied the allegations and believes the leak regarding Hamilton’s move originated in Britain.

“We had no leaks – I think it was done on purpose by someone from Britain,” he told Motorsport.com.

“I really appreciated that we are a small group and that we worked for months, and that we were able to go to the end and not have a leak. It was a good one.

“We had some leaks in the beginning when I joined, even before I joined, because I understood in the press that I was going to Ferrari before I started the discussion with Ferrari. Over the past six months you have had some gossip in the press, but that was gossip and not real leaks from the team.”

Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz as Charles Leclerc’s partner for next season. The Spaniard faces an uncertain future in the sport as he considers his options in the driver market.