Mercedes boss Toto wolf was caught by surprise when seven time world champion leis Hamilton told him he was off to Ferrari for 2025 at the start of this year his departure will Mark the end of one of the sports most successful Partnerships which has yielded six drivers World titles for Hamilton and eight Constructors championships for the team Mercedes didn't want to put pressure on Anton so they let him focus on finding his way in F21 while also duv tailing a testing program in F1 Machinery building him up in a 2021 spec car before moving him onto the 2022 spec machine that is part of the most recent generation of Formula 1 cars in the meantime they M their options carow signs who seat Hamilton took at Ferrari was considered but a deal never came close wolf also chased Red Bull's three-time world champion Max wor Sten hard despite the Dutchman having a contract with drag bull until 2028 the first stens who know wolf well engaged and talks went on into the summer break but they ultimately decided to stick with Red Bull with antonell finding his feet enough to after a difficult start the Italian picking up to wins to sit sixth in the championship and impressing during the private F1 tests wolf decided to take the plunge and sign antonell for next season Mercedes believe antonell can be one of the greats and that's why they are putting him in the car now they believe their junior program has prepared him well and it's important to them that for the first time in their history both their drivers have come through that system they are confident his upbringing values and personality put him in good shape to cope with the immense pressure that will fall on his shoulders initially that will come from Italy as they have a driver racing in a top team for the first time in a couple of decades and then from the rest of the world as his talent is put to the test thank you for watching please share it with your friends and family if you have any suggestions or complaints feel free to comment below if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet do so now and turn on notifications to receive alerts as soon as the video is released