Lewis Hamilton will switch to Ferrari in 2025, but the seven-time world champion will spend the coming season with Mercedes. Team boss Toto Wolff said he would not rush to find a driver to replace Lewis, but made it clear that he sees George Russell as the new team leader.
“With all this talk about Lewis, little has been said about the fact that George has the potential to be the next leader of the team because he is from the same generation as Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc,” Racingnews365 quoted Toto Wolff. . Now that Lewis is gone, I couldn’t ask for a better team leader, there’s no doubt about that.”
George is a fast, talented and smart racer, so we just have to make the right choice about who will drive the second car. I do not want to rush into this matter. In recent weeks, contracts have been signed with riders that we could consider and that would be interesting for us, but time was ahead of us.
I have always loved change because it offers opportunities. We responded to Nico Rosberg’s decision in the same way [завершить карьеру], which was equally unexpected. I’m looking forward to how we, together with the team, with my colleagues, will decide who will get behind the wheel of the second car next year.
Maybe we have a chance to make a bold move. I have not yet discussed with the team who we want to choose: a rookie or an experienced driver, because I do not yet know which option is better for the future of the team.
If they had told me two days ago that Lewis would move to Ferrari, I wouldn’t have thought this was possible. As you can see, everything is changing very quickly. The contracts are only as good as the driver or team wants them to be.”
Asked whether Mercedes youth program member Kimi Antonelli had a chance to become George Russell’s teammate in 2025, Toto said: “Kimi joined Mercedes at the age of 11 and had a very successful junior career.
At this stage it is important that he concentrates on his performance in Formula 2. If we start misleading him or spreading rumors in the press, it will certainly not help him. “He only came out of karting a few years ago, he’s not yet 18 years old, so I wouldn’t want to speculate that Kimi could make the transition to Formula 1 at this stage.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
