Toto Wolff makes his feelings known about Lewis Hamilton's struggles at Ferrari

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has thrown his weight behind Lewis Hamilton amid the latter's longstanding struggles with Ferrari. Wolff stated that the British driver needs time to adapt to the Italian team, and it's not wise to write him off.

Hamilton spent the last 11 years of his F1 career with Wolff-led Mercedes. Together, their partnership yielded eight constructors' championships and six drivers' titles for Hamilton.

However, in 2025, the seven-time world champion abruptly switched to Scuderia Ferrari on a multi-year deal. Despite high anticipation and expectations, Hamilton hasn't fared well, scoring 79 points in 10 races with zero podiums in Grand Prix races.

Toto Wolff has backed Lewis Hamilton amid his struggles at Ferrari. On Bloomberg's Hot Pursuit podcast, the Mercedes team principal opined that the 40-year-old driver hasn't lost his skills but needs time to adapt to new cars.

"You don't unlearn driving that quickly. In 2021, he was great, and then the regulations changed, and it got a bit more difficult. But he was still performing on a very high level. Just by changing teams suddenly, you don't lose your skills. I think everybody needs to have a period of adaptation—a different car, a different DNA of how that vehicle drives, and a new engineering team that you need to start to work together. Then be involved in the continuous development of the car so it suits your driving style," Wolff said.

The Austrian team principal added that Hamilton has a pattern of coming alive in the second half of the season.

"It's an all-Italian team. He's a British guy who parachuted in there, and that takes time. Also, we have seen a little bit of a pattern that Lewis, at the beginning of the season, needs to come in to find the mojo. And the second half of the season has always been very strong. So don't ever write Lewis Hamilton off," he added.

Hamilton has been largely outperformed by his teammate Charles Leclerc in the first 10 Grand Prix races of the season.

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George Russell feels Lewis Hamilton is pushing too hard at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton with George Russell at the F1 Grand Prix of Canada - Practice - Source: Getty

After Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, Lewis Hamilton's former teammate George Russell, also shared his take on the seven-time world champion's ongoing troubles at Ferrari. Russell stated that Hamilton is pushing too hard to achieve results, as at this stage of his career, anything less than a win is a failure.

"I think when you are a seven-time world champion, anything less than victory is a failure. You're probably pushing yourself and your team over the top to achieve beyond the potential, to try and achieve these great results, and it is potentially counterproductive," Russell was quoted as saying by GP blog.

Lewis Hamilton has voiced his frustration over the Ferrari car's potential. After the Canadian GP, where he finished P6, he called for a desperate upgrade package to improve the car's performance.

Edited by Rupesh