Toto Wolff expands on ‘shelf-life’ comment as he admits Mercedes have ‘failed’ Lewis Hamilton

Toto Wolff has opened up about relations between Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton after the Briton’s challenging Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend and a headline-making comment from the Silver Arrows boss in their new behind-the-scenes book.

Hamilton endured a particularly painful event at Interlagos, where he failed to score a point in the Sprint, got knocked out of Q1 in the main qualifying session and finished 10th in the Grand Prix – admitting to initially feeling like “I didn’t really want to come back”.

Meanwhile, the publication of a book charting life at Mercedes over the past year has gained plenty of media coverage, particularly a quote from Wolff stating that “everyone has a shelf-life” as Hamilton gets set to swap his long-time employers for Ferrari.

With the F1 paddock reconvening at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Wolff was quizzed on both topics during the Team Principals’ press conference and spoke at length about how things stand between Hamilton and Mercedes.

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 26: 6th placed qualifier Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes — Hamilton has raced for Mercedes since 2013 but will head to Ferrari next year

“Well, Lewis, we’ve all known for many years wears his heart on the sleeve,” said Wolff. “I think it was such a bad experience for him [in Brazil] – that whole race weekend, and particularly the Sunday – that there’s something that in a way wasn’t unusual. Now, this time was probably particularly bad.

“I think he and us as a team have been really doing well at holding on to working together. He announced that he’s going to Ferrari at the beginning of the year and I’m quite proud of what we have achieved to maintain the professional relationship like we are.

“We knew it was never going to be easy, and if the car is bad on such a day, then we have not given him a tool that is good enough to what he should have.”

Wolff was then pushed for some more background on the quotes attributed to him in Mercedes’s book and what he meant by the “shelf-life” comment – given that he later stated it was taken out of context.

“I’ve said it very often about this world particularly – it’s taking a toll on all of us,” Wolff commented. “We are doing more than 20 races a year, we fly around. What I said is that everybody has a shelf-life.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 21: Mercedes GP Executive Director Toto Wolff attends the Team — Wolff says Mercedes have “failed” in giving Hamilton a competitive car over recent seasons

“You don’t want to go from great to good and that doesn’t exclude the drivers. It is still something that I stand by. I’m asking myself this question all the time. I do it for the organisation and for everybody around.”

Asked if he then felt the need to clear the air with Hamilton, Wolff added: “Lewis and I speak, and we’ve always done so. A sentence that has been made public on the weekend particularly where he hasn’t been satisfied about his driving or about the car… one plus one makes it look bad.

“One rule that we established very early in our relationship is that we talk immediately. ‘Why did you say that?’ or ‘What did you mean?’ – that is what we have done. That was one sentence in a book and there were 99 sentences around the Brazil weekend.

“In some interviews that I’ve given about Lewis I’ve clearly remarked that he’s the greatest driver of all time and that if we are able to give him a quick car, he’s going to be able to win and fight for championships. We have failed in doing so.”