Toto Wolff spills the beans on how he negotiated Mercedes contracts with 'emotional athlete' Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reveals that when it came to Lewis Hamilton, they had to bring someone else in to do the job and hence not spoil the relationship. The Austrian was Hamilton's boss at the German team since 2013, the partnership continued for more than a decade, but one thing that stood out more than anything else was that the duo ended up developing a special bond with each other.

The two became close friends and still are, even though Lewis Hamilton has now moved on to rival team Ferrari. At the same time, however, when the Brit was at Mercedes, he was working for Toto Wolff as well. When you are working for a team, there's always a negotiation process that would be in place every few years. Wolff is notorious for being a tough negotiator, as is often revealed by Nico Rosberg.

Talking to Formula.hu, the Austrian revealed that when it came to negotiating with Lewis Hamilton, it was something that wasn't natural for both of them, as their goals aligned with one another for the most part throughout their time at Mercedes.

It was, however, during the negotiations that the two wouldn't agree often. As a result, Wolff decided that it was best to bring a third person onto the table who would play the role of the negotiator and hence alleviate any kind of undue tension on the duo. He said,

"It always makes things more complicated when you negotiate with someone who is your ally. Someone whose goals are very close to yours. For example, Lewis and I, that was always a problem. We were best friends for two and a half years, we agreed 100 percent, we shared our private lives and everything. Then came the two-month period of negotiations."

He added,

"We both hated it. Why? Because in that situation you might not agree. Finally we changed and brought in someone who did this job, so the situation was resolved in a few days. That's why it's always going to be complicated with all the drivers. On the one hand, you want to maintain a good relationship. On the other hand, negotiations are sometimes tough, and it's difficult when the other side is an emotional athlete, not someone who deals with this every day."

Mercedes boss doesn't agree with the notion of him being a tough negotiator

Nico Rosberg has often referred to Toto Wolff as a tough negotiator in F1. The German often talked about the Mercedes boss as someone who was not easily agreeable and hence a nightmare to deal with when it came to contracts.

Wolff, however, pushes back on this notion as he opens up on his approach while negotiating with the drivers. The Austrian reveals that he tries to put himself in the other person's shoes to understand what they want and then use that as a barometer. He said,

“No, I think I'm fair. I think we should always put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. So I give my soul to the other side and think, if I were them, what would I want to achieve?"

He added,

"Then I ask myself, what is fair in this situation? What do I think would be the right thing to do? I consider that and try to find the right balance, but obviously there are times when both parties want to optimize this and that, and that can make things complicated.”

Talking about contract negotiations, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is involved in one at the moment with George Russell. The delay in a contract extension announcement is a perfect example of how tough negotiations can get with the Austrian billionaire.