Why Toto Wolff has not needed to speak to potential Lewis Hamilton replacements

Toto Wolff has said he never made contact with any other driver about replacing Lewis Hamilton despite Mercedes’ struggles this season.

Next month marks the 10th anniversary of Hamilton’s decision to move from McLaren to the lesser fancied Mercedes team. Since then, he has become the most successful driver in history and helped add eight consecutive Constructors’ titles to Mercedes’ trophy cabinet.

But there has been increasing talk that Hamilton’s time with the team may soon be over. His current contract runs until the end of 2023 but with the Mercedes struggling earlier this season, there was speculation that the seven-time World Champion may walk away.

That worry did not cross team principal Wolff’s mind though who confirmed that he had never been in touch with another driver to sound them out about possibly replacing the team’s biggest star.

“I’ve not been in touch with any other driver,” Wolff told Motorsport.com.

“Lewis and I, even if the season would have gone wrong, we would have at least under the principle of hope, stayed together next year.

“And [for] a couple of months, we’re talking [if] this going to go five or 10 years. So none of that is true.

“I haven’t been in touch actively or reactively [with anyone] about a drive with us going forward.”

A new challenge presented to both Hamilton and Wolff was dealing with mediocrity after such a dominant run in the sport but Wolff said that the Brit eventually accepted his “new reality.”

“That’s certainly not a joyful experience, but after the first few races, he was very special,” Wolff said.

“He got settled in a situation that was all about how can we move this car back to the front.

“And even when I was not at my best, he was the most positive person in the room, building everyone up even if driving this car is a handful.”

Lewis Hamilton remains committed but Mercedes must start laying the groundwork for his succession plan

It is a scenario that has so often played out in sport. An athlete becomes so synonymous with a team and so successful that when their inevitable departure does occur it feels like a piece of the team went with them.

No driver on the current grid has been at their team as long as Hamilton. He is currently competing in his 10th season with the team and his impact both on and off track can not be overstated.

So, despite Wolff’s confidence that Hamilton will remain until at least the end of the next season, in order to avoid a dip in form akin to Manchester United in recent years, Mercedes must plan for what comes next.

The hardest question facing Wolff is who do they get in? George Russell is righty seen as the successor to Hamilton but that still leaves a seat free and not an abundance of options.

While Mercedes would no doubt like to lure Max Verstappen away from Red Bull, the Dutchman signalled his commitment with a new contract that runs until 2028. Lando Norris is another name that has been mooted for a spot at Mercedes but he too is tied down having signed with McLaren until 2025.

Perhaps a more realistic suggestion is a certain Pierre Gasly. The current AlphaTauri man is another driver whose contract is set to end at the conclusion of the 2023 season and both he and Red Bull have been dropping hints that his long-standing relationship with the team could be coming to an end.

There would be a lot of advantages to the move for both parties. For Mercedes, they would be getting a race winner with plenty of not only experience of F1 but also experience at a top team, even if it did not end well, and would be relatively cheap in comparison to the wages demanded by Hamilton.

Another bonus is that Gasly may be more open to a short-term contract, giving Mercedes time to find a suitable heir to Hamilton’s legacy.

For Gasly, it gives him that chance to race in a top team once more and to prove that the driver who was unceremoniously dumped out of Red Bull is not the driver we see today. It would also put him in a, presumably, race-winning car during the peak years of his career. Perform well in the two or three years that Mercedes offer and it would open a lot of doors for him.