Wolff confident Hamilton won’t blindside Merc
Lewis Hamilton plans to tackle the rising costs of junior racing as a "top priority".
Toto Wolff believes whatever decision Lewis Hamilton makes about his future, he won’t blindside Mercedes as the two talk “all the time”.
Hamilton has yet to decide where he will be in 2021.
While Mercedes keen to hold onto the six-time World Champion, speculation that he could head to Ferrari for his final stint in Formula 1 continues to grow.
Hamilton reportedly met with Ferrari president John Elkann earlier this year with Ferrari feeling him out for a possible 2021 drive.
But whatever happens, Wolff is confident his driver won’t blindside Mercedes like Daniel Ricciardo did to Red Bull last year.
“The two of us [Hamilton] have been together for quite a while, we trust each other,” he told Crash.net.
“We have gone through difficult times together and we have come out stronger with a better bond.
“Besides us there are many others which form part of that inner circle within the team.
“Of course we talk all the time about where we see the team going and Lewis’ career going.
“In terms of the silly season it’s normal.
“You guys [the media] drop us little grenades and sometimes we pick them up and they explode in our hands.
“It’s part of the narrative and it’s good that over the winter these talks happen.
“But at the same time the two of us talk all the time about it.
“They have never been surprises when things came out in the press, there were weeks or months that we knew about each other and what our thinking was.”
But it is not just Hamilton facing a decision about his future with Wolff linked to Chase Carey’s F1 CEO role.
The Austrian, though, is not hankering for a new job.
“My role is a little bit different and what I found out is that I enjoy the relationships within the team and the relationship to the decision-makers in Daimler,” Wolff said.
“That is a fundamental part of my wellbeing.
“They have really trusted us and given us all the room we need to make this team successful and I’m not taking it lightly to come up with the right decision for all of us.
“This is a process that is going to take a little bit of time but I don’t see any surprises actually, as it stands.”
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