Lewis Hamilton’s comments about Mercedes exit after British GP win speak volumes
Toto Wolff made Lewis Hamilton a promise after George Russell ‘s win in Austria nine days ago.
The Mercedes chief was adamant that the seven-time Formula 1 champion would get the chance to finally win again before his long association with the team comes to an end. Even he may not have expected to fulfil it just a week later in front of a rocking Silverstone crowd.
But Hamilton mastered the circuit he loves the most and had a car quick enough to secure a record ninth British Grand Prix success – his first win in 945 days. If it is his final hurrah as a Mercedes driver, everyone involved with the team will savour the memory.
But there are still 12 more races to go this season, before Hamilton bids farewell to the Silver Arrows and begins a new chapter of his career with Ferrari. The 39-year-old is eyeing more success before he makes the switch, and insists he is not regretting the choice he made before the season even began.
He said: “When we started the season we had a car where we weren’t going anywhere near Red Bull. The fact that we’ve really all come together, everyone’s done such a great job to get the car into a place where we’re feeling much more comfortable and really changes from the foundation from last year. So not leaving on a low, but leaving on a high, which has been our goal.”
Hamilton admitted after his win in Northamptonshire that, because it had been so long since his last success, there were times that he believed he may never experience victory in F1 again. Mercedes spent a long time out of contention for such success and team boss Wolff explained how he and Hamilton had supported each other through the team’s struggles.
He said: “Our relationship goes back a long time. Each of us has suffered at various stages. He’s been there for me and, most recently, I’ve tried to do my contribution to his doubting at times. That’s why it feels really good that he’s been able to put all the negative thoughts, all the negativity, aside and come up with this performance. I think it’s a weight off his shoulders.”
For so long, Mercedes were trying to upgrade their cars but struggled to close the performance gap to their rivals. But their sudden and vast improvements in recent weeks has Wolff convinced that the team finally understands how to make the W15 faster.
And he revealed that there are more upgrades on the way at the upcoming races in Budapest and at Spa-Francorchamps. The Austrian added: “When you consider that five races ago we weren’t even a contender for the podium, which looked like the third year of non-performance, then it clicked.
“Suddenly, everything that didn’t make sense made sense. and the results of the development directions are back like in the old days. We are finding performance, we’re putting it on the car, and it translates into lap time.”