Lewis Hamilton’s ‘failure’ under spotlight as Wolff compares Michael Jordan

Toto Wolff, who said goodbye to Lewis Hamilton three years after losing his grip on the F1 World Championship, is determined not to overshadow Mercedes’ success story with the British driver.

Hamilton He will leave Mercedes at the end of the F1 2024 season and move to Ferrari, which has exercised the escape clause in his contract to sign a multi-year deal with the Italian team.

Toto Wolff rejects Lewis Hamilton’s ‘failure’ talk

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

The season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will mark the end of the 39-year-old’s 12-year career with Mercedes, which has included six championships and 82 grand prix wins. 80 of those wins were achieved in the first nine years they worked together.

While they have been prolific in the years following Formula 1’s switch to V6 hybrid power units, Mercedes and Hamilton have only been out since 2022, when Formula 1 introduced ground-effect aerodynamic cars that have limited the seven-time World Champion to just two victories in the last three seasons.

Hamilton therefore fell short of the famous goal of securing a record-equalling eighth title.

But Wolff insists this will not overshadow the success Mercedes and the British driver have achieved together.

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“This is the most competitive motorsport in the world and we have been lucky and blessed to win eight World Championship titles in a row,” the team boss told media, including PlanetF1.com in Las Vegas.

“This has never been done before in any other sport. And Lewis won seven Drivers’ championships.

“You can’t infer from this that you’re going to win forever or chase every championship. That doesn’t happen.

“The rules were changed twice, we maintained the level of performance and won championships. And then we got caught up in these new regulations in 2022.

“To date we have not been able to provide the car with consistent performance and provide drivers with something that is predictable, has adequate downforce, does not bounce or bounce, rides where the ride is acceptable, where tire degradation can be managed properly, and whether it is too cold or too hot should not be.

“That’s how sports work. It’s easy.

“I don’t know where I read this or where I heard this, but a basketball player was asked if his season was a failure.

“And he said: Michael Jordan played 10 or 12 seasons in the NBA and won four. Does that mean it’s all a failure?

“Were the other six failures? And I think we’ve been in this championship for 12 years and we’ve won eight of them. Others fail?

“Two years ago we were third, last year we were second, taking into account that we did not win a race, we won three races this year. So these are not all failures. This was a pretty good spell for Mercedes and Lewis.

“And we’re going to try to do it better. We’re trying to do it better every day, every weekend. It’ll be the same next season and then the big season in ’26.”

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