Toto Wolff lifts lid on Lewis Hamilton relationship as Brit 'still travels with Mercedes'

Toto Wolff has revealed that his relationship with Lewis Hamilton is still very strong, and that the seven-time world champion sometimes travels back from Grand Prix weekends with the Mercedes squad alongside former team-mates George Russell and Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton left Mercedes at the conclusion of the 2024 season, ending a 12-year partnership with the Silver Arrows and embarking on a new adventure with Ferrari.

This raised question marks over the future of his relationship with team principal Wolff, with whom he had established a close friendship at Brackley. According to the Austrian, while the dynamic has changed slightly since Hamilton swapped his black and silver overalls for red ones, the legendary Brit remains a friend to the team. When he decided to go, it could have been very awkward, borderline hostile,” Wolff told the Wall Street Journal.

“And we actively talked about how to not make it that. All of us made a real effort in trying to be very accommodating, very understanding. He’s maintained being a friend. He pops up in the office on the weekend!

“He speaks with the engineers, gets some food. After many Grand Prix, he travels back with me. So we have the old gang: Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and me flying from the races.”

Wolff was then asked whether this was a strange dynamic for a team principal and former driver to have. “It’s very unusual in any kind of relationship,” he explained. “But I tried to be very open and say, ‘Listen, on the racetrack, we want to beat you.’ No doubt about that.

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“But it’s been 12 years that we have been in this relationship. We trust each other. I’m living a different life through his eyes - you know, he shows me his flirts and who he dates, and [asks], ‘Should I go for this girl or not?’ And I’m saying, ‘Yes, you should, and tell me how it was!’”

While all is well between Hamilton and his former team-mates away from the racetrack, the battle is hotting up on it. Heading into the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari are now 12 points clear of Mercedes in the fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship.

Worse still for Wolff and Mercedes, Hamilton is starting to find his feet with his new squad. The Brit has been knocking on the door of the podium in each of the last two race weekends, recording his best finishes of the season so far in Austria and at Silverstone.