Toto Wolff has suggested that Lewis Hamilton has everything required for success in a second career after he calls time on his racing career in Formula One.
The Austrian has said that he does not know when Hamilton will retire, but has claimed that the Brit will know when his time us up, being very in tune with himself and his abilities.
“I think he has a few good years left in him and he will be the first one to say ‘I don’t think I can compete against a 24-year-old that is as good as I was or even close to how I was’,” he said.
The seven-time world champion has recently said that he would like to spend the rest of his life at Mercedes, explaining how he sees the team as more than just a racing team, citing their work in the community and pushing for more diversity.
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Wolff has credited his driver, believing that while being one of the best to ever grace a racing track, he will also be very successful in his own way, mentioning their close relationship as a reason for his beliefs.
“I have no doubt Lewis Hamilton is not only the greatest racing driver, with Michael [Schumacher] in a way, but he will also be successful in his own way, in a second or third career and reinventing himself.
“We’ve grown very close together over the last eight years,” Wolff explained.
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“Grow is the right terminology because we’ve gone through difficult phases as well, and my learning was that I just need to try to provide the best possible framework for him in order to perform, and that might be also different than other people would perceive a relationship should be between the team boss and his driver.
“He’s really very intelligent and also socially intelligent. I’ve obviously dealt with him on our agreements three or four times now – and I have a real good sparring partner.”
Hamilton has spoken at length about his passion for the technical side of the sport, explaining how he reinvented the modern F1 steering wheel, and loves to play with setups to find what works best for him, leading many to believe this is an avenue that he will explore after he gets out the cockpit for the final time.