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Wolff, who hours earlier had joined Hamilton in the team’s celebrations claiming a record seventh consecutive constructors’ championship, suggested his comments were made while he was excited and tired in the heat of the moment.
Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff speaks during a press conference at the Emilia Romagna Formula One Grand Prix. AP
Imola: Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff on Sunday ruled out the possibility that Lewis Hamilton is ready to retire from Formula One and said he didn’t think it was about to happen.
The Austrian coach, who hours earlier had joined Hamilton in the team’s celebrations of achieving a record seventh consecutive constructors’ championship, suggested his comments were made while he was excited and tired in the heat of the moment.
Wolff said he hoped to see Hamilton return for the 15th year in F1 next year.
Hamilton had previously said that he could not guarantee that he would stay in the sport.
“I would like to be here next year, but there is no guarantee,” he said.
“There are many things that excite me in the afterlife.”
Wolff, who is aiming to step down from his team chief position next year, said: “I suppose if I did decide to get out of Formula One, which I don’t think is going to happen, and I hope it won’t.” If that happens, then I think we’re going to have a pretty hectic driver market. “
Wolff added that he believed Hamilton had worried about other issues outside of the sport.
“I think it’s time,” he said. “It’s the emotions. We are all happy, but also very tired. And the same thing happens to me.
“I completely empathize with his feeling that you ask yourself, that you think about all the other things that matter, and when you turn the news on in the morning and turn it off at night, it’s about the struggles we all face.
“We are here now in our happy little place where we try to bring some entertainment home, but then you are back in the more difficult reality the next day, and all of that affects us.
“And in that sense, it is normal for someone who is empathetic to have these feelings.”
Wolff added: “Like Niki Lauda, in the seventies, you could wake up one morning and say ‘I’m not having fun anymore’ and that can happen to anyone.
“But we want to continue this journey. We are not finished. Lewis, myself and the whole team, we are not finished.”
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