Mercedes Boss, Toto Wolff has ‘no doubt’ Hamilton can compete for championships again with right car
Toto Wolff, the Boss of Mercedes, believes Lewis Hamilton can find his best form once more and challenge for a record-breaking eighth world championship, if the Silver Arrows can continue to build a car that is competitive enough.
Prior to Red Bull stealing the show in 2022 and 2023 due to the change in ground effect regulations, Hamilton had tied Michael Schumacher’s record for the most championships in 2020 and was on the verge of doing so in a thrilling 2021 race against Max Verstappen.
In response to inquiries about whether 38-year-old Hamilton, who recently inked a new two-year contract with Mercedes, would be growing discouraged with the comparatively poor results, Wolff said, “the real Lewis is still very much there.,” as his team works to return to winning ways.
After Hamilton finished a distant eighth in the 2023 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Wolff stated, “From Lewis’ perspective, he had a bad weekend, fact.” “I don’t think that changes the fact that he is the world’s best driver.”I have no doubt that he would be competing for a world championship if we could get him a car. It’s obvious that having a Formula 1 car like the one we currently own doesn’t make you comfortable; you have good and poor weekends.
“In the end, whenever we witness Lewis putting someone in front of him who is his target and the race is about winning, the real Lewis emerges, and I believe we just need to give him that [opportunity].”
Mercedes has finished at least third in every season since 2013 and has won eight of the last ten constructors’ titles, despite their recent decline. Wolff provides a philosophical analysis of the team’s circumstances.
He went on, “We have a board in our factory that shows every constructors’ championship since 1958.” The table displays the logos and badges for every year up until 2050. There [are] 27 open, empty badges, and I would like to look back in 20 years and say, ‘There’s many more Mercedes stars’.
“When you’re retrospective – and I hate retrospective views – but when we look back in 10 or 20 years and we consider that big, big decade it was: second, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, third, second.
“We sort of say, ‘That was okay,’ when we look at it that way. From a micro perspective, nevertheless, there is only one person who won 19 races [in 2023], which is obviously insufficient.
