"When I sent Fred a WhatsApp two days before, he didn’t reply, so I guess I knew" - Toto Wolff on how he knew Lewis Hamilton had signed for Ferrari

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has stated that he learned about Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari when the Prancing Horses' team principal Frederic Vassuer did not reply to him on WhatsApp.

Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, Wolff stated that Ferrari's team boss did not respond to his WhatsApp messages for two days. He took Vasseur's silence as a sign that Hamilton had signed with the Italian giants.

Wolff added that Vasseur did not tell him about the move, since Hamilton himself wanted to do so.

“When I sent Fred a WhatsApp two days before he didn’t reply, so I guess I knew. But then, no, Fred didn’t tell me, Lewis felt that he wanted to tell me first,” he said.

Before this, Toto Wolff talked about his friendship with Frederic Vassuer and how difficult it was to communicate with each other during the situation.

“We are friends since a long time and in the same way, we are knowledge that we are competitors on tracks. And so that is a balancing act that is not always easy, because we have the duty and the obligation to perform to the best of our abilities for the interest of our team. And this is what Fred has done in that situation,” he added.

Lewis Hamilton's move from Mercedes to Ferrari was announced on February 1. He will be joining the team in 2025, marking 2024 as his last year at the Brackley-based team.

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Lewis Hamilton's move was not surprising to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff also spoke about how he was not surprised to see Lewis Hamilton leave for Ferrari in 2025. He stated that almost every F1 driver dreams of driving for Ferrari and revealed that he and Hamilton have discussed the move in the past.

"Every race driver dreams of being in a red overall in the red car. We’ve discussed it many times before, that this would be exciting to do one day. But over the years we came to the conclusion that finishing the legacy here was something that one can be proud of," Wolff was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

The Austrian added that Hamilton's move did not surprise him since he was always aware of the change.

"But I never ignored the possibility of change. Whether for Ferrari or another team. It is what it is. As I said, the fact didn’t surprise me at all. Maybe the timing. But I can understand," he added.

Toto Wolff is known to have a good relationship with Lewis Hamilton. The duo have won eight Constructors' Championships from 2014 to 2021, dominating F1 like no other team.