Toto Wolff denies ‘flirting’ with Max Verstappen or Charles Leclerc before Lewis Hamilton renewal
On Thursday, Mercedes announced that Hamilton and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell would form their F1 💟driver line-up up until th𒐪e end of 2025.
It ended all speculation ab💎out Hamilton’s future amid tentative links to Ferra🅺ri throughout the season.
Leclerc was linked with a move to Mercedes if Hamilton decided to swit🍌ch to Ferrari or retire from F1 completely.
Speaking after FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix to Sky, Wolff explained why Mercedes didn’t entertain the idea of talking to other drivers such as Ve♛rstappen or Leclerc.
"No. I’ve always said that when we r▨enew, I don’t want to flirt outside if I have a good relationship, and only when I see that things are not going in the right direction then I would test the market, but I didn’t do it,” he said.
๊Hamilton has been outspoken in wanting to remain in F1 for many years to come - beyond his latest two-year deal.
Wolff shed light on why they only committed to two years, rather than a l🌊onger deal.
“Yes, we already signedꦚ in May but we didn’🐼t tell anybody,” Wolff joked. “Keep a bit of suspense. In all seriousness we knew that we had an agreement, not only emotionally but on paper many weeks ago but it was just you get lawyers on the case and they find stuff.
“I think it comes from, in a way both sides in this day and age, things cha🥂nge. This is a dynamic environment. Signing a five-year contract means that you need to discuss is there any escape clause in case we are not providing him with a car that is performing.
"So we didn’t entertain that. We said the foreseeable future is𓄧 two years and that’s w♎hat we are committing to each other.”
With a s𒈔harp eye🎃 for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
