Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has admitted that he harbours “no doubt” that Lewis Hamilton will manage to rediscover his previous “magic” in Formula 1 again at Ferrari.
Hamilton has endured a taxing start to his long-awaited spell with Ferrari as the team’s limitations with a problematic SF-25 car have hampered his attempts to adapt.
The Briton hasn’t beaten team-mate Charles Leclerc in a full-length race during the opening five events and trailed over 30 seconds adrift last time out in Saudi Arabia.
That led Hamilton to quip that he needed a “brain transplant” to gel with Ferrari’s capricious 2025 machine as he conceded he is braced to experience a tough season.
But despite his recent struggles, Hamilton produced the Italian marque’s sole win since his arrival when he commanded proceedings in the Sprint in China last month.
Wolff has insisted that his long-time driver’s exploits in Shanghai demonstrate that he remains more than capable should Ferrari provide him with the tools to prosper.
“I think we’ve seen that magic in the Sprint race,” Wolff told media including Motorsport Week in Miami. “He was completely dominating that race.
“And it’s not like you have the magic in one race and then suddenly you lose your magic in the following one. I very much believe that that it is still there.
“If he aligns all of his performance contributors, if he feels being in the right space, the car to his liking, he will be stellar. I have no doubt about that.”
Hamilton’s Ferrari setback ‘not surprising’
Wolff expressed that Hamilton encountering initial tribulations at Ferrari was inevitable, a sentiment that his predecessor, Carlos Sainz, had shared earlier in the week.
READ MORE – Carlos Sainz ‘not surprised’ by Lewis Hamilton Ferrari struggles
The Austrian also suggested that Leclerc’s experience with Ferrari and his status among the best drivers on the grid have prompted Hamilton’s woes to be overstated.
“I’m also not surprised that it has those road bumps,” Wolff added. “He’s been with us 12 years.
“The way of operating, he’s being put in a Ferrari where his team-mate has been for a long, long time, and his team-mate clearly is one of the very good ones.
“If I look from the outside – and speaking to him – I think it’s a trajectory that any new driver needs to go through in a top team.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton insists Ferrari troubles comparable to initial Mercedes adaptation
