Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff share a lighter moment during a press conference some while ago. (Getty Images)
The Mercedes F1 team Principal and CEO explained how he sorted out issues with Hamilton in his kitchen
Toto Wolff revealed that Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg had several fallouts at the end of the 2016 season which could have resulted in Hamilton leaving the Mercedes team. The season was a very successful one with Mercedes winning both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships however there were frequent rifts within the team between Hamilton and Rosberg.
Rosberg claimed his first world title beating Hamilton, who defied team orders during the final race of the season in order to win the championship himself. Hamilton was very close to leaving Mercedes but that’s when co-owner Toto Wolff stepped in to amend the “marriage”.
Wolff revealed the conversation which eventually led Hamilton to stay with Mercedes and win four more championship titles.
“We met at a Christmas party in my home at Oxfordshire. I said we need to decide whether we want to work together or not. You want to win as a driver, I want to win as a team. Sometimes our different agendas are going to lead to conflict and we need to decide whether we can cope with that situation. We were in my kitchen”, said Wolff. He further added, “A purely business-related friendship has become a personal relationship. He’s a friend. Doesn’t mean we don’t argue anymore but now Lewis’s success is the team’s success and vice-versa.”
Lewis Hamilton won four consecutive drivers’ championships (2016-2020) following that conversation with Wolff. However, he missed winning the last championship by a whisker under controversial circumstances.
Hamilton went into the final race of last season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix level on points with Max Verstappen. Hamilton and Verstappen were level on 369.5 points with the Red Bull driver ahead thanks to his nine 2021 GP wins compared to Hamilton’s eight. The Mercedes driver was 11 seconds ahead with six laps to go but then things changed drastically. A controversial decision by race director Michael Masi saw Max Verstappen make the most out of it, darting past Hamilton to win the championship.
A certain section of F1 fans feel Hamilton was hard done by Masi last season and was robbed off his title. Hamilton though, has stated he doesn’t feel that way and made it a point that Verstappen deserves all the applause. However, we do sense a rivalry between the two top drivers and the 2022 season is either going to be Hamilton’s redemption or the season where Verstappen establishes himself as the best active driver in Formula One.
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