Venturiation wrote: ↑03 Feb 2024, 02:59
AR3-GP wrote: ↑02 Feb 2024, 22:41
Venturiation wrote: ↑02 Feb 2024, 22:35
Mercedes refused his contract as an ambassador
Your first comment, the one I replied to, says that he left because Mercedes didn't want to extend him past 2025 so that is what my comment is in reference to.
Regarding the ambassadorship claim, anything reported about his post-career contracts is speculative until we hear it from Hamilton or Mercedes
They didn't want him after 2025, they offered him a 1+1 deal instead of 2+1
Those quotes don't say that Mercedes was going to throw Hamilton out at the end of 2025. That's only your interpretation.
If you follow through the link you can see the proper context:
“But, as I said before, we went with open eyes into this contract, into this phase of our relationship. We knew that, maybe, it could be a year, or it could be two.
“We knew that it would come to an end, latest, at the end of 2025.
It is not of someone being thrown out. The 1+1 is not of someone being thrown out either. The ambassadorship details are also speculative and not sourced by anything here just as a few months ago where it was dismissed by Wolff and Hamilton.
Team principal and part-owner Wolff said at the F1 Belgian Grand Prix: “No, we’re not talking about an ambassadorial role post his retirement, nor is that part of the contract negotiations.
“I think he has many years to go as a driver within this team and therefore it’s only about cleaning things up in the contract.
As you can see, Toto said he thinks Hamilton
has MANY years to go with this team. They would let Hamilton stay as long as he wanted and Hamilton would be the first one to put his hand up and say he was no longer good enough.
The problem was on Hamilton's end. Mercedes wasn't going to trample on Hamilton's happiness by forcing him to stay as the team's performances dropped. They were giving him an out. Toto knows Hamilton is tired and Mercedes hasn't delivered the goods for him. That's why Toto says "We knew...this phase of the relationship..it could be a year, it could be two". i.e. Hamilton is sick of this and we aren't going to force him to continue. 1+1 gave everybody and out. Hamilton could retire, switch teams, do whatever he wanted. Mercedes was just there to observe, not to control.
https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamil ... /10503274/
A lion must kill its prey.