Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff praised the mentality of Lewis Hamilton despite a rough start to F1 2024, even when āover the fenceā he can see rival teams excelling.
The F1 2024 ambition for Mercedes was to take a clear step forward in the pecking order and set their sights on challenging Red Bull rather than keeping their head above water versus the chasing pack, though that goal has hit an early roadblock.
Lewis Hamilton āas good as you can beā for Mercedes
It has been Red Bull and Ferrari setting the pace so far, Ferrari responding to Red Bullās back-to-back 1-2 finishes with one of their own in Australia, while Mercedes are yet to finish higher than George Russellās P5 at the opening round in Bahrain.
And Russell has taken firm control of the intra-team battle versus Hamilton, who is off to Ferrari for 2025, leading many to question where Hamiltonās head is at after this underwhelming start to the season. Wolff though, has no such concerns.
āI think the drivers are super in this whole setup, because Lewis is as good as you can be,ā Wolff assured media personnel in Melbourne.
āHeās in a situation obviously where, on one side itās super frustrating to see that we are not getting it, on the other side, look over the fence and itās pretty good whatās happening there.
āBut that is not his main priority today and George is just a fighter and is digging in and he knows thatās his place, so weāve got to sort this out.ā
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And the need to escape this slump is a message very much backed by Hamilton, who after retiring from the Australian Grand Prix with an engine failure, called this his āworst start to a seasonā ever.
Nonetheless, in keeping with Wolffās view on the matter, Hamilton was keen to retain a positive outlook on the situation he and Mercedes are in.
āI mean, this is the worst start to season Iāve ever had,ā he acknowledged to the media in Melbourne.
āSurprisingly, I feel pretty good. Iām trying to keep things in perspective, you know, this like, could be so much worse.
āIām really grateful. Iāve really enjoyed my time here in Australia, Iām still enjoying working with a team. Of course, Iād love to be fighting for wins and actually finishing races.
āItās never a great feeling when you come all this way, and you donāt see even half of the race, but what I know is that we will bounce back, we will eventually get there, we just have to continue to chip away.ā
Hamilton is sat on a tally of just eight points after the opening three rounds of F1 2024.