Wolff concedes it was ‘for the good’ of Hamilton to move from Mercedes to Ferrari

Toto Wolff has opened up on Lewis Hamilton’s impending move from Mercedes to Ferrari, suggesting that the seven-time world champion might have been feeling the need to “reinvent himself”.

Hamilton and Ferrari made headlines at the start of the year when it was announced that the long-time Silver Arrows driver will replace Carlos Sainz as Charles Leclerc’s team mate next season.

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This was made possible by Hamilton activating a clause in his contract – which was set to run through 2025 – to leave one campaign early and join the Scuderia on a multi-year agreement.

In an interview with BBC Sport, Wolff was quizzed further on Hamilton’s exit and, specifically, if he had any regrets about the decisions that led to him signing for Ferrari.

“No,” he replied. “We decided as a team for that and we were always very transparent with Lewis, and the good thing with him is he is able to put himself in your position and understood where we were coming from.

“So, in that respect there are no bad feelings, there is no betrayal. It was also for the good of him to change. This was the longest run between a driver and a team. It was 12 years overall. And maybe he needed to, in a way, change and reinvent himself.

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“Being a driver for Ferrari is super-prestigious. Maybe for us as a team also it is important to emancipate ourselves and go in a different direction.”

In Hamilton’s place will come highly rated Mercedes protégé Kimi Antonelli, with the 18-year-old Italian – who has been racing in F2 this year – preparing to take over as George Russell’s team mate.

Asked if Antonelli can cope with the step up, Wolff said: “You will only find out if someone is ready for F1 when you throw them in the cold water. I think Kimi is prepared. We are doing the utmost to give him testing days.

“We are not sitting with him in the car. He needs to do it. He has the talent, the intelligence, the ability, all of it to do it well. And we need to provide an environment where he can learn and develop.

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“You’ve got to give young drivers time. George is a formidable driver, one of the best. You can’t expect an 18-year-old to sit in the car and outperform him. That’s not going to happen. Impossible.”

Following Hamilton’s departure, Antonelli and Russell will form the fifth different full-time Mercedes F1 driver line-up since their return to the sport as a factory team back in 2010.