“If Hamilton says ‘let’s call it quits’, Wolff would let him go to Ferrari”
Hamilton has frequently stated that he intends to remain at Mercedes beyond the expiration of his current contract, at the end of this season, but still no paperwork has been signed.
He went winless for the first time in his F1 career last season and, heading into this weekend’s F1 Miami Grand Prix, Mercedes are still not competitive with the Red Bulls.
Ferrari are presumed to be the only destination if Hamilton were to leave, largely due to their legacy rather than their current performance.
Ex-Ferrari and Williams team manager Windsor said via his YouTube channel:“If the Mercedes is not a great car and Lewis doesn’t win a race…
“Maybe George Russell doesn’t win a race and if he’s got another year on his contract…
“If [Hamilton] said to Toto Wolff: ‘Toto, I’ve given you everything, I’ve now had two years of a bad car, I’ve got a mega offer from Ferrari and I want to take it’.
“‘Will you look into my eyes and shake my hand and we’ll call it quits?’
“I think Toto would do that.
“I don’t think he would say: ‘No, you’ve got a contract. You must drive for us’.
“I think Lewis would just say: ‘OK, well, I’m stopping in that case’.
“He’d do a Nigel Mansell if it ever came down to that. The odds are that it won’t.
“I think he will win a grand prix or two this year – if not more.
“I think Mercedes will get better and they’ll have a better car.
“If nothing else, Toto will be very good at painting a picture in Lewis’ mind of what it might be like in 2024 - ‘the race-winning car they’re going to have in 2024!’
“So it won’t come to that. But if it did, I don’t think contracts would be that important.
“I think the contracts in place at the moment basically are to govern the amount of money that he’s earning.
“I can’t imagine Toto really thinks: ‘I can tie this guy down’”.
Wolff conceded that he keeps an eye on Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc as a long-term option when Hamilton is eventually no longer with Mercedes.
Leclerc has been forced to shoot down rumours that he has already spoken about a switch to Mercedes.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
