“Well, Lewis, we’ve all known for many years that you wear your heart on your sleeve,” Wolff said. “I think it was such a bad experience for him. [in Brazil] – throughout the race weekend, and particularly on Sunday – that there is something that in some ways was not unusual. Now this time was probably particularly bad.
“I think he and we, as a team, have done very well working together. He announced that he was leaving for Ferrari at the beginning of the year and I am quite proud of what we have achieved to keep the professional relationship as we are.
“We knew it was never going to be easy, and if the car is bad on a day like that, then we haven’t given it a tool that is good enough for what it should have.”
Wolff was then pressed to provide more information about the quotes attributed to him in Mercedes’ book and what he meant by the “lifespan” comment, given that He later claimed it was taken out of context..
“I’ve said it very often about this particular world: It’s taking a toll on all of us,” Wolff said. “We do more than 20 races a year, we fly. What I said is that everyone has a lifespan.