In his book, Whyman tells of how Hamilton had described the breakfast with long-time boss Wolff, at which he informed the Austrian of his plan to leave Mercedes, as the "hardest meeting" he had been involved in. But he found even tougher the task of telling his closest friends within the team, including race engineer Peter 'Bono' Bonnington.

Lewis Hamilton will drive for Ferrari next year, but rumors that the seven-time Formula 1 champion is exiting Mercedes before the end of the current season reportedly were refuted by Mercedes. Rumors of Hamilton making an immediate split with his current team arose after his poor showing last week in Brazil,