Toto Wolff, Team Principal for the Mercedes Formula 1 team, has explained why Lewis Hamilton will not be driving for Ferrari in the post-season test after the conclusion of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
As the 2024 Formula 1 season draws to a close, fans and bettors are turning their attention to the highly anticipated final race. The odds of the race win are particularly intriguing, with Hamilton, Leclerc, and Sainz among the favorites. Hamilton has odds of 10.0, meaning a successful $10 bet would return $100. Leclerc is better favored to win at 6.50, while Sainz is priced at 11.0, confirming his underdog status. These odds have given four-time world champ Max Verstappen the best chance of winning, with betting sites as reviewed on SportsCasting giving the title holder odds at 3.30.
It was announced in February that seven-time world champion Hamilton will make the move to the Italian team, after many successful years at Mercedes. He is set to replace current Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, who will be taking the driver seat at Williams in 2025. However, where Sainz has been given permission to do post-race testing at Williams in December, Hamilton won’t be seen behind the wheel of the Ferrari.
When addressing the media at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Wolff was questioned about why Hamilton wouldn’t be available to Ferrari at the test. In response, he said, “Fred [Vasseur] didn’t ask. I think it is a difference also if you’re maybe going to Williams, but we have contractual agreements with sponsors.”
Vasseur, Team Principal for Ferrari, was sitting next to Wolff at the time, and agreed with him, stating, “There is a contract. We have to respect this. It’s not because we are doing something for Carlos that everybody has to do the same. And as Toto said, I didn’t ask Toto.”
The two team principals are known to have a friendly relationship, which has possibly made Hamilton’s switch from his many years at Mercedes to Ferrari easier. Wolff also said of the post-season test, “We’re having a farewell for Lewis. We’re having lots of activities that are planned. And him and I, we spoke about it shortly, and he said, ‘I guess that’s not going to work’. And I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to work’. And that was the whole thing. So I don’t think Fred is particularly sad.”
Vassuer agreed that he is not sad about the situation and that they have to honor contractual agreements.
When asked about why he agreed to let Sainz drive for Williams in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi, Vassuer commented: “The story with Carlos is that I want to thank Carlos for the collaboration, and I don’t want to block him or whatever. I think he did a very good job with us this season and a very professional one because it would have been easy to… not give up, but not to have a so professional attitude. And for me, the best way to thank Carlos was to also give to him the opportunity to do the test with Williams.”
Sainz recently spoke about Ferrari’s choice to replace him with Hamilton. He said that he 100% understands the team’s choice to bring Lewis on board. This is despite Sainz being ahead of Hamilton in the Driver’s standings. He said, “I understood it almost right from the beginning. I think if it would have been someone else, I would have taken a lot more longer to understand. But when you understand Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion and one of the best – if not the best in history – is going to replace you as Ferrari… I understand.”
Wolff is expecting the season finale in Abu Dhabi to be a very emotional race for the whole team. Claiming that currently, he was not experiencing any overwhelming emotions as Hamilton was set to drive his final laps in the Silver Arrow, he said that he expects the last race together to be “quite a thing because we had this wonderful partnership for such a long time.”
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