Lewis Hamilton: Toto Wolff says he desires outgoing Mercedes driver to win at Ferrari if Silver Arrows cannot

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says he would need to see Lewis Hamilton win at Ferrari if his personal workforce can’t win the championship.

Hamilton got here by the sphere from sixteenth to complete fourth in his ultimate race for Mercedes on Sunday as his 12 years with the Silver Arrows got here to an emotional finish on Sunday on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 39-year-old introduced earlier than the beginning of this season that he would be a part of Ferrari in 2025 and admitted he “massively underestimated” the problem of this yr.

Hamilton will likely be changed by Italian teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes subsequent yr.

“If we can’t win, we will cheer for him,” mentioned Wolff.

“He merits an eighth championship but, obviously, the team, the drivers, the brand, that is the main priority to win and we will give it everything we can.”

Hamilton, who overtook George Russell on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, gained six drivers’ titles, 84 races and took 78 pole positions for Mercedes.

Wolff says he’ll “work hard on maintaining the relationship” with Hamilton, together with having dinners and using motorbikes with F1’s most profitable ever driver.

“It’s been 12 years. It’s not only the longest driver-team relationship the sport has ever seen but one of the longest relationships any sports team has had with a player,” continued Wolff.

“And one of the longest relationships personally with a person. Obviously that creates attachment, trust and those values in this day and age are rare. That’s why it’s a period of time we will hold close to our hearts.

“And top-of-the-line intervals that I’ve personally had and the workforce.”

Hamilton: Ultimate ‘hammer time’ was second it clicked for me

Hamilton had an enormous slice of misfortune on Saturday when he was knocked out in Q1 after working over a bollard, so began sixteenth.

He was the one driver to start out on the hards, so ran lengthy within the first stint earlier than occurring a late-race cost on the mediums, overtaking Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and made a courageous transfer on team-mate Russell on the ultimate lap.

Hamilton’s engineer Peter Bonnington grew to become well-known for his “it’s hammer time Lewis” radio message to his driver once they have been preventing for victories, which was a sign to push laborious earlier than a pit cease. Bonnington delivered that message for a final time in Abu Dhabi, which was a particular second for Hamilton.

“I think when Bono said it was ‘hammer time’ [during the pit stop phase], I did notice in the moment, I was like ‘that’s the last time I’m going to hear that.’ It really clicked for me in that moment,” Hamilton instructed Sky Sports activities F1.

“It was a really, really hard race – naturally – from where I was, and I didn’t get as great a start as this one here [Charles Leclerc], my new team-mate.

“And that first stint was actually, actually troublesome. I wasn’t shedding hope, I used to be similar to, ‘Oh, not going in addition to I believed it could.’

“But I just didn’t give up, I just kept pushing, like ‘Come on, we can get there’ and then switched on to the different tyres, and the car came alive – but I had a massive gap to close, so I just focused on just getting absolutely everything from the car and not giving up.

“I needed to complete on as a lot of a excessive and simply give each ounce of me to the workforce, as they’ve given to me all these years.”

He added to F1 TV: “I’ll miss everybody. I am unable to inform you how a lot I’ll miss them. It is going to be an enormous quantity as a result of I’ve labored with them every single day for the previous 12 years. There’s a variety of love inside this workforce and that is not going wherever.”

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