Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has told the media to ask Lewis Hamilton why he has decided to cut his Mercedes contract early.
The seven-time world champion will leave the Silver Arrows at the end of the 2024 season after signing a multi-year deal with Ferrari.
Hamilton only signed a new contract with Mercedes last August which committed his future to the team until at least the end of 2025.
But the 39-year-old has exercised an early-exit option to complete a shock move to Italian giant Ferrari.
Toto Wolff refused to give the reason why Lewis Hamilton changed his mind and left Mercedes
Sky Sports/Getty
Hamilton was linked with Ferrari last year but he batted away those rumours and put pen to paper on an extension with Mercedes.
He repeatedly stated he wanted to finish his career at Mercedes after first joining from McLaren in 2013.
But the lure of joining Ferrari has proven too much for the Stevenage-born driver.
Wolff only learned the news of his impending departure this week, just a day before it became public knowledge.
Reacting to Hamilton's exit, Wolff said he wouldn't say the reason why the driver 'changed his mind' and opted to leave at this point.
The Austrian told Sky Sports: "I cannot tell you exactly. We were very aligned when we went into the Christmas period and I think we've said that in public and in the team.
"You need to ask Lewis why he changed his mind.
"How he framed it to me is perfectly understandable, that he needed a new challenge, that he was looking for a different environment, and that it was maybe the last possibility to do something else."
Hamilton has won six of his seven world titles during his 12 years at Mercedes.
But he has been left in his wake by Max Verstappen in the last two years and has failed to win a race in that time.
Wolff knew the short-term contract he agreed with Hamilton last year meant there was a chance he would seek a move elsewhere.
He added: "We're big boys. We knew that by signing a short-term contract it could be of benefit for both sides. We couldn't commit for a long period and he's taken the option to exit.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
Toto Wolff only learned of Lewis Hamilton's decision to leave this week
Getty
"We totally respect that you can change your mind, there are different circumstances. And switching for Ferrari maybe for the last bit of his career, maybe rolling the dice a little bit - I can follow that decision.
"Clearly the timing was surprising to us. But I guess what he tried to do is maybe to give us a long time to decide what we want to do next year going forward.
"When we decided, Lewis and us, to go for a very short-term contract, we knew why we were doing it. And it was to leave him options open and at the same time, us."
Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff have had a hugely successful partnership at Mercedes
Getty
Asked about finding a replacement for Hamilton, Wolff said: "There's an exciting situation at the end of 2024 with some drivers becoming available.
"Others just signed a few weeks ago - so these ones would have been opportunities.
"So that timing, if it would have been six weeks earlier, there would have been more opportunities, but it is what it is."
