02 February 2024 , 17:03
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Losing Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari will not affect the friendship between Toto Wolff and Frederic Vasseur - even if they do "punch each other on the nose".
The Mercedes team principal will wave goodbye to his star driver at the end of this year. Hamilton has decided to join Ferrari at 40 in one last attempt to win an eighth Formula 1 title before he retires, clearly of the belief that he will have a better chance of achieving that with the Scuderia.
He will link up with an old ally in the form of Frenchman Vasseur, Ferrari's team principal. He was in charge of the ART junior team which fielded Hamilton in Formula 3 and GP2 almost 20 years ago - the Briton won both titles which helped him to land his first F1 seat with McLaren.
In charge of two teams in direct competition with one another in F1, Wolff and Vasseur are natural rivals but also good friends. And that will not change despite the Frenchman luring Hamilton away from Mercedes.
Wolff said: "I've got great respect for Fred as a racing manager but also as a long-time friend. When he took the role at Ferrari it was clear that he need to do the best he can for Ferrari and use his opportunities to do that. So there is no bad feeling towards Fred trying to get the best drivers - that has no effect on the relationship.
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"It is a tough competition and a cut-throat environment and, as much as I try to do the best for our group, he will do that for Ferrari. I have spoken to his numerous times, we have coordinated on our communications. It's a little bit like rugby - we punch each other on the nose but we're able to get off the pitch and have a respectful relationship.
"As for Lewis, clearly, the timing was surprising to us but I guess what he tried to do was to give us a long time to decide what we want to do going forward for next year, and we will extract everything we have.
"Fred will have a very good relationship with Lewis as his boss, no doubt about that. They have known each other for more than 20 years - Lewis raced for ART. Fred understands what goes on in drivers' minds and he does things very differently to me, but he is very successful as his track record shows."
Wolff is left with the task of replacing Hamilton - but will not rush into making a decision. He added: "I always like change because it provides you with opportunity... I'm really looking forward to making the right decision for the team, with my colleagues, for who is going to be in the seat next year. Maybe it's a chance to do something bold."