02 February 2024 , 14:11
590
0
Toto Wolff insists he will not treat Lewis Hamilton unfairly this year just because the Briton is leaving.
Hamilton will bring his 11-year stay with Mercedes to an end following the conclusion of the upcoming 2024 season. He will join rivals Ferrari in a bid to challenge for one last Formula 1 title before he retires from the sport.
Often, when a driver plans to leave for another team, they will be frozen out of conversations regarding the future. It can also sometimes be the case that the driver leaving received unfavourable treatment compared to their team-mate who is sticking around.
But Wolff is adamant that he will treat Hamilton and George Russell as equally as is possible throughout the campaign. "I think what I've always tried to do as a team principal, and all of us at Mercedes, is to be transparent and fair," he said.
"Nothing is going to change in that respect in 2024. We owe it to our principles and our racing intent, how we go about, and we will respect that. And I will be sure that the drivers will respect it.
Sebastian Vettel warns of looming F1 ban and is "very worried about the future"
"In terms of the development going forward, I think this is something which we need to look at. The regulations stay pretty much the same. And when it comes to 2025, we will evaluate later in the season what it means in terms of technical information, but that's not something that bothers me at all.
"We have engineers that leave us and go to other teams and the notice periods are sometimes as short as six months. So I don't have any doubt in Lewis' integrity, in terms of sharing information. And in that respect, we want to make sure that this is a successful season for both drivers, and a successful season for Mercedes, and all of us will give our utmost to achieve that."
Wolff's words hint that information regarding Mercedes' plans for 2026, when new car regulations will come into play, will be shielded from Hamilton as best as is possible. In any case, the Austrian says he is looking forward to the challenge.
He added: "Definitely a new situation to manage for followers of the team, but it is something that when you focus on the really short term, and this is the racing team that's being deployed to run the product. That doesn't have a big impact on everything that's happening going forward on the development side.
"I'm always interested in new and challenging situations, and balancing 2024 Mercedes interests versus 2025 driver interests is something that we will openly discuss at the beginning, how to manage that, and for sure come to a good outcome between us."