Wolff believes Hamilton is "getting more complete" in his F1 career
F1 News
The 2024 season has come to its end, and with that, so has the partnership between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. The Brit will join Ferrari in 2025 in search of his record-breaking eighth driver's title after sealing six of his seven with the German team. Team principal and CEO Toto Wolff was a part of all Hamilton's success, and right until the end of 2024, the Austrian saw the 39-year-old "getting more complete" as a driver.
Hamilton first joined Mercedes in 2013, leaving McLaren after six seasons at the British team. Some questioned the move, but that move turned into the greatest team and driver partnership Formula 1 has ever seen, sealing six driver's titles and eight constructors' championships in his time at the German team.
However, after the heartbreak of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mercedes were unable to find the pace required to fight right at the front of the grid, and in 2024, Hamilton's form took a significant dip, finishing outside of the top six in the drivers' standings for the first time in is F1 career.
Wolff says Hamilton is getting "stronger every day"
Of course, Wolff was also hit hard by the events at the Yas Marina Circuit in 2021, and speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, he mentioned that season finale: "The ending of 2021 is something that is going to be with us forever when it comes to our professional lives. But I don't think the ending of 2021 had any correlation to not driving as fast anymore or any of that."
There had been some discussion that the gut-wrenching end to that season for Hamilton derailed his whole F1 career, never really getting back to the heights of championship contention, with a severe drop off in pace in 2024 being a slight worry.
However, the Austrian team boss is quick to refute those claims: "Overall, as a human being, professional and outside of the car, he is getting more complete every time. I think what is exceptional about him is that he is getting stronger and stronger every day, every year. He is someone who is on a constant development journey, very self-critical. That makes him faster on track, and that makes him more mature in his personality. That's what makes him the greatest of all time," concluded Wolff.
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