Toto Wolff kept a close eye on Lewis Hamilton during his Ferrari debut in Australia. After twelve years with Mercedes, the British star chose a new challenge with Scuderia. Although Wolff now has a new line-up with George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, he fell back into an old habit in Melbourne and also watched ‘third driver’ Lewis Hamilton.
At Mercedes, they are clearly not yet accustomed to the fact that Hamilton now races for Ferrari. Admittedly, after twelve years of collaboration with the British former champion, it takes some getting used to considering him as a competitor. Therefore, team boss Toto Wolff couldn’t resist occasionally monitoring Hamilton’s performance during the season opener in Australia. For the Austrian, it sometimes felt as if he had three drivers on the track.
‘He is also just a competitor’
“When I looked at the screens, it seemed as if we had three drivers,” he joked with the media in Melbourne. “I was watching Russell, I was watching Antonelli, but I was also watching Hamilton. Then you suddenly realize that he actually drives for Ferrari and not for us anymore. He has raced for us for so long that you can’t just say: ‘He’s gone, I don’t care anymore.’ We still care a lot about how he’s doing. But having said that, he is just a competitor on the track and we have to beat him.”
For now, that has been achieved. Lewis Hamilton did not get further than a disappointing tenth place at Albert Park Circuit, which he himself also acknowledged as a disappointing Ferrari debut. On the other hand, Mercedes did do well. Thanks in part to the podium finish of George Russell and the impressive fourth place of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Germans are tied for first place in the constructors’ championship.
Lewis Hamilton in conversation with Toto Wolff during one of his last Grands Prix for the Mercedes team.
