Toto Wolff explained why he and Lewis Hamilton stopped negotiating live last year when the seven -time world champion sought to leave the team. Mercedes F1’s director and co -owner recognizes that their human relationship made negotiations very complicated.
“What makes things even more delicate is that you are negotiating with someone who is your ally. Someone whose objectives are close enough to yours. For Lewis and I have always been a problem” Wolff Racon.
“Because for two and a half years, we were the best friends in the world. We were on the same wavelength at 100 %, we shared our private life and everything else. And then we had these two months of negotiation.”
“And we both hated that. Because in this situation, you may not be on the same wavelength. In the end, we changed that and we called someone else to deal with it. And everything was settled in a few days.”
The Austrian had already known this with Nico Rosberg, and still sees that currently with George Russell. According to him, this is the reason why it is preferable to transfer negotiations to people specialized in this field.
“This is why, with Nico, George and all the pilots, it will always be delicate. On the one hand, we want to maintain good relations. On the other, the negotiations are sometimes difficult. And it is complicated when the other part is emotional and that it is a sportsman rather than a person who does this every day.”
