Lewis Hamilton's decision to leave the Mercedes F1 team at the end of this season shocked everyone no one more so than the Mercedes faithful and Toto wolf f1's most successful ever driver built his career at Mercedes dominating the sport for the better part of a decade and the idea he would drive anywhere else was Unthinkable yet as the years went on Toto W's faith in his Golden Goose has waned with just three races left in Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes career and relationship ships at the team starting to strain his boss Toto wolf has taken the opportunity
to tell the world exactly what he thinks of the Aging F1 star so stick around as I cover it all and try to work out if any of it is true the closing stages of the 20124 F1 season have been filled with miserable races for Lewis Hamilton he spent more time complaining to his engineer about his car than Max V Sten during free practice which in itself is an impressive feat the Brazilian Grand Prix was than a dear of his Mercedes career throughout the race Hamilton insisted his Mercedes car was his worst ride ever as
a seven time F1 world champion finished 10th in sou Paulo It Was a Race which was made for Hamilton as well Brazil is one of his best tracks and wet weather well but he's known to be one of the best Hamilton should have been the one cing through the field dispatching cars left him right with joyful ease but despite this being the perfect race for Lewis it was his one time r rival Max V stappen who looked like a master of the wet the Red Bull C that Max used to do it isn't the dominant
monster of last year either prior to the S poo Grand Prix it had three podiums and no wins in the last 10 outings by comparison in the same time frame Hamilton had three podiums and two of which were wins now no one suggesting that the w15 had an equal for the rb20 at the moment at least not when it's in ven's hands but it was still shocking just how badly Hamilton's race went starting 14th on the grid the seven time F1 world champion struggled for grip on the wet inter Lagos track and dropped back early
on after the midr red flag Hamilton progressed to occupy 10th and kept off the challenge of Red Bull Sergio Perez behind him we were just slow he told Sky F1 I want to say a super thank you to the guys in the garage up so early today they'll be feeling pain we could have won with George this is part of the conundrum that was Hamilton's weekend Hamilton was out in q1 Russell qualifi P2 Lewis couldn't pass the vcar of rookie Liam Lawson Russell was battling for a Podium till the very end they aren't driving different
cars the setup could be different but they are both the w15 and Hamilton has control over his own setup if he wasn't happy with something he can make changes and he definitely has the experience to make positive changes as well asked about the condition of his car after the race Hamilton said it's like a plank of wood no suspension bouncing on the tires can't get on the power anywhere it's the worst ride we've ever had particularly through corners it's so stiff hopefully we won't have any more bumpy tracks the last three aren't so bouncy I
could happily go and take a holiday none of those sentiments were matched by George Russell with just three races left for Hamilton at Mercedes and a new book coming out Toto wolf has headed to the press to vent his frustrations at Hamilton's performances there's a reason why we only signed a 1 plus oneyear contract wolf added we're in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important and I believe everyone has a shelf life so I need to look at the Next Generation Hamilton is currently on course for his worst ever F1 season and at 39
years old he is getting on by modern F1 standards of course he isn't even the oldest F1 driver on the grid at the moment that title goes to Fernando Alonzo based on Hamilton's performance this season you could say that Wolf's decision to just sign Hamilton to a OnePlus oneyear cont track was justified Lewis has fallen behind George Russell in the driver's Championship after his underwhelming performance in sou Paulo at the same time though you have the most successful F1 driver in the sports history in your car is it not worth gambling on him with a
longer contract you could play what ifs all day but wolf made his decision and that pushed Hamilton to make his decision the consequence of which will be Hamilton moving to Ferrari next season before I talk about that move and why people are saying it is doomed to fail if if you're enjoying the video and want to catch some more daily F1 updates make sure to give this video a like And subscribe to F1 reverse it really is appreciated thanks a lot Hamilton's decision to move to Ferrari was a bit of a shock to many fans
there had been Rumblings that the move could happen with plenty of rumors about it but it seemed impossible Hamilton had a contract with Mercedes the 2024 season hadn't even started yet and surely he wouldn't leave the Silver Arrows after all that success it certainly took Toto by surprise earlier this year Toto had said that Lewis Hamilton had asked to come over for coffee so they could have a chat which is when he broke the news he was leaving Toto gave the impression that it was then that he found out about the move but has now
changed the story speaking to the high performance podcast wolf said that an initial call from rally Legend Carlos sein Senor father of the Ferrari driver that Hamilton is replacing had been where he first got word that something was happening so I heard the bells ringing 2 weeks before said what the uh the old man signs called me and said this is what's happening then there were a few driver's dads rang me up that didn't before so I thought okay there's something going on here and then I sent a text to Fred the sir saying you're
taking our driver didn't get any response very unusual for Fred he's a good friend so yeah I saw it coming while wolf has treated Hamilton like a favored son during their time together the Mercedes boss showed his ruthlessness when he said how much the decision had affected him well well I had much worse in my life happening like real drama and trary said this is not even moving the needle it's just a new situation it has risks and opportunities risks in the sense of how do I inform the sponsors as quickly as possible because it
was leaking and on the other side what are we doing about next year he actually went as far as saying that he's glad that Hamilton quit I like the situation it helps us because it avoids the moment where we need to tell the Sport's most iconic driver that we want to stop how 's decision to move did help Mercedes wolf famously passed up the chance to sign Max for stappen before Red Bull did a decision that he has grown to regret he wasn't going to let the same thing happen to Andrea Kimmy Antonelli Toto seems
to think that the young Italian could be the next V steppen and didn't want to risk a pastry situation not having to fire Hamilton to replace him with a rookie is definitely advantageous for Mercedes image though wolf has probably spoiled everything gained from that with this interview however Toto is far from the only person who thinks that Lewis Hamilton might have reached his expiry date former F1 boss Bernie eckleson believes Lewis Hamilton will not win another world championship ahead of the Mercedes stars move to Ferrari next year eckelstone who was in charge of F1 from
1987 to 2017 believes Ferrari will continue to back charlot Clair over Hamilton and worries the British Driver best years are behind him I believe he won't Eon said when asked whether Hamilton will win a record-breaking eighth title I don't think it'll be easy for Lewis especially in that team they'll back charlot Clair he's quick and has grown up there they won't dump him for anyone Bernie thinks that Ferrari hired Hamilton to grow their own ego rather than for his racing skills it is a big deal he's got though I suspect the bonus Clauses written into
his contract are there to make him feel good rather than reality eklon said explaining that he doesn't think Hamilton will be earning any performance bonuses of Ferrari for John elen the guy who runs it it was a big ego thing he thought he' captured the best guy the world had ever seen when he signed him there was nothing to indicate he was wrong in that assman whether he is still happy with that is another story only time will tell if Lewis is fading which I don't like to see he should go away and do something
else and do a good job at it Jeremy Clarkson has also said that he thinks Hamilton is finished in Formula 1 talking about the Brazilian Grand Prix and what we learned from it Clarkson said first of all Max for is one of the all-time greats he may even be the greatest driver we've ever seen and second Lewis Hamilton is past his prime he blamed his car for his tail end qualifying session but his teammate George Russell was on the front row of course it's possible that because Lewis is moving to Ferrari next year the teamer
filling his fuel tank with lemon barley water instead of petrol but that seems unlikely it's far more probable that he's now too old with certain sections of the media turning against him the best thing for Hamilton to do now now is turn up at Ferrari and perform if he arrives and beats Char Clair it will completely silence any critics claiming he's washed up or to all to perform if he doesn't though it will be a sad way to end such an incredible career do you agree with Hamilton's critics is he too old or washed up
or is he just sick of Mercedes and needs his Fresh Start Ferrari let me know your thoughts in the comments down below and until next time drive safe and byy for now
