Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff is adamant Lewis Hamilton isn’t “looking over at the fence” at Ferrari amid the contrasting fortunes of his current and future team.
Mercedes has endured a harrowing beginning to the current campaign, with the German marque accumulating its worst points total (26) after three rounds since 2011.
Hamilton had been bemused with the inconsistent balance of his Mercedes W15 car as he exited Q2 and qualified 11th before retiring from the race with an engine failure.
George Russell had been set to secure sixth place, but he crashed at Turn 6 on the final lap while pursuing Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin to leave Mercedes scoreless.
Meanwhile, Ferrari capitalised on Max Verstappen’s first retirement since the Melbourne race in 2022 to take a 1-2 finish, with Carlos Sainz leading Charles Leclerc home.
Although Hamilton has agreed a move to the Maranello-based squad for 2025, Wolff denied that the Briton has checked out given Mercedes’ troubles in his final season.
Asked how the drivers were dealing with the team’s struggles, Wolff responded: “I think the drivers are super in this whole set-up because Lewis is as good as he can be.
“He’s in a situation obviously where on one side it’s super frustrating to see that we are not getting it.
“On the other side, look over the fence and it’s pretty good what’s happening there. But that is not his main priority today.
“And George is just a fighter and he’s digging in and he knows that’s his place. So, we’ve got to sort this out.”
Having scored a total of eight points to leave him languishing 10th in the Drivers’ Championship, Hamilton labelled 2024 his “worst start ” to an F1 season to date.
However, the seven-time champion remains upbeat about the remainder of the campaign, insisting that he continues to relish working with his Mercedes engineers.
“Surprisingly I feel pretty good,” Hamilton reflected. “I think I’m trying to keep things in perspective, you know?
“It could be so much worse, I’m really grateful and have really enjoyed my time here in Australia.
“I’m still enjoying working with the team, of course I’d love to be fighting for wins and finishing races.
“It’s never a great feeling when you come all this way and don’t even see half of the race, but what I know is that we will bounce back and will get there, we just have to chip away at it.”
