Toto Wolff asked if he regrets decisions which led to Lewis Hamilton’s exit

The next time Lewis Hamilton races at Monza, he will be wearing Ferrari red in the famous team’s home country.

This weekend at the F1 Italian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Hamilton is eager to return to winning ways after recent victories at Silverstone and Spa.

His days are numbered at the rejuvenated Mercedes team, where seven of his eight F1 titles have been won.

But team boss Toto Wolff insists he does not regret any decisions which led to Hamilton’s decision to sign for Ferrari in 2025.

"No," Wolff insisted to BBC.

"We decided as a team for that and we were always very transparent with Lewis and the good thing with him is he is able to put himself in your position and understood where we were coming from.

"So in that respect there are no bad feelings, there is no betrayal.

"It was also for the good of him to change. This was the longest run between a driver and a team. It was 12 years overall.

“And maybe he needed to, in a way, change and reinvent himself.

"Being a driver for Ferrari is super-prestigious. Maybe for us as a team also it is important to emancipate ourselves and go in a different direction."

Mercedes have returned to form in the middle part of this year, after two years of woe.

Their underperformance began in 2022, after the notorious 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Race director Michael Masi’s application of the rules resulted in Max Verstappen pipping Hamilton to a late race win, and the title.

"You have to look at it from a point more detached than we do," Wolff said about Hamilton being denied a record eighth title.

"He is the greatest F1 driver of all time. He has beaten all the records and there is only this one, with championships, where he is equal with Michael Schumacher, another great - if not, with Lewis, the greatest driver. So it is what it is. And we can't change that.

"Would I have wanted it to go the other way? Absolutely. Do I think what happened in 2021 was anywhere near fair? No, it wasn't.

“But we can't turn back time and there are worse things than losing a race or a World Championship. There is more drama in the world out there."