Lewis Hamilton is leaving Mercedes after 12 season to join F1 rivals Ferrari but the end of his Silver Arrows career has not been as successful as he would have hoped
Toto Wolff is certain that the sour end to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes career will be “quickly forgotten” and won’t tarnish his legacy with the team.
Hamilton has won twice this season but he has found it tough going since the summer break. Second place in Las Vegas has done little to banish memories of qualifying shockers in Austin and Brazil, while in Qatar last weekend he didn’t even make it into the points.
Ahead of Sunday’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, team principal Wolff is determined to ensure their extraordinarily successful partnership ends on a high. He said: “We have one more to go. We will continue to give it our utmost, and we will celebrate the partnership, the relationship that we had.
And then those few races will be forgotten quickly, as much as it hurts at the moment. When he took the decision to go, we knew it could be a bumpy year ahead. It’s normal.
“He knows he will go somewhere else. We know our future lies somewhere else. And to go through the ups and downs and still keep it together is something we have achieved.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve and you express your emotions and that is absolutely allowed. Nothing is going to take away 12 incredible years. That will be in the memory, rather than a season or races that were particularly bad.”
