Fred Vasseur: how his relationship with Toto Wolff changed after ‘poaching’ Lewis Hamilton. Frederic Vasseur on how his relationship with Toto Wolff has changed in recent months.

Frederic Vasseur has explained how his relationship with Toto Wolff has changed in recent months following Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari.

Partly due to the dissatisfaction accumulated over recent months/years with a Mercedes team that is now far from the glory days of dominating the hybrid era, Lewis Hamilton seized the opportunity to finally accept Ferrari’s offer after years of failed attempts. The credit goes, of course, to the Elkann-Vasseur duo, although the Frenchman revealed that it wasn’t particularly difficult to convince the Briton to join the Maranello project.

“I didn’t have to convince him to come to Maranello,” the Frenchman explained in an interview with the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica. “It was already his idea for some time, and now it has come to fruition. He chose not to renew with Mercedes and to follow what was his goal. Let’s just say that the planets aligned, and here we are telling this story.”

The French manager also explained how his relationship with Toto Wolff has changed in recent months after the official announcement of the Briton’s departure: “Our relationship is still okay.” – he pointed out.

“When I arrived in Formula 1 ten years ago, we knew that at some point we might be competitors on some issues, and it would be a problem for our personal relationship. But it’s also true that until now, we have never been direct rivals. Last year, we had our first battle on the track, but we have always tried to separate business from personal matters. It is not always easy. In this sport, it is complicated to completely divide things.” – the Ferrari boss continued.

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While Ferrari, thanks also to Frederic Vasseur’s significant work on the organizational structure, has managed to shore up the technical staff and officially announce the 2025 driver lineup well in advance, Mercedes is still dealing with the hot potato, with Wolff still searching for a high-caliber driver to suitably replace the seven-time world champion.

Options are clearly not lacking, despite the Brackley team having lost much of the appeal it had until 2021. The options of Carlos Sainz and Kimi Antonelli remain on the negotiation table, while the Max Verstappen coup seems to have faded, at least for 2025.