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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff could not confirm whether Lewis Hamilton will remain in Formula 1 next season, but is hopeful that he will continue.
After winning his 93rd race at Imola, Hamilton caused a stir when he later said there is no guarantee that you will continue to compete since “he can understand wanting to go back a little bit” and he has “many things that excite him” outside of sports.
Wolff and Hamilton have yet to sign new contracts, but the team manager has confirmed that he plans to move to a less practical role and a change in the pair’s “symbiotic” association could be key to the reigning champion’s decision.
Wolff said: “I completely identify with your feeling, that you ask yourself, that you think about all the other things that matter. When you turn the news on in the morning and turn it off at night, it’s all about the struggles we all face.
“We are here in our happy little place and we try to bring some entertainment home. But then you are thinking about the most difficult reality the next day and all of that is something that affects us in that sense.
“I think nothing is safe. Like Niki Lauda in the 1970s, you could wake up on a Friday or Saturday morning on the track and say ‘I’m not having fun anymore’ and I think that can happen to anyone. ”
In 2016, after winning the world title, Nico Rosberg made the surprising decision to retire, prompting Wolff to declare that “it is important where our hearts and minds are for next year.”
Although he has confirmed his driving at Williams, George Russell is likely to be the man to replace Hamilton if he makes the decision to retire.
Wolff admitted that it would create chaos in terms of driver decisions for 2021. He added: “If he decided to get out of Formula One, which I don’t think will happen and I hope it won’t, I think we are going to have a driver’s market. quite frantic.
“There will be a time when the drivers’ championship decides to sit down [to discuss the future] – and we have a few months before the first race in Australia happens ”.
Before you leave…
Russell “disbelief” at the worst racing mistake of his career
Wolff confirms he has Mercedes team main successor in mind
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