Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has cautioned against writing off Lewis Hamilton, despite the seven-time world champion`s challenging start during his first half-season with Ferrari.
In what has been a somewhat underwhelming 2025 season for Ferrari, Hamilton has yet to achieve a podium finish in his initial ten races for his new team, following his departure from Wolff`s Mercedes at the end of last season. In contrast, his teammate Charles Leclerc has secured three top-three finishes and currently leads Hamilton by 25 points in the championship standings. Hamilton`s best results so far have come in the two Sprint races.
However, Wolff, who oversaw Hamilton`s dominant era at Mercedes where they won six drivers` titles together, believes that a period of adjustment for the British driver in his new surroundings is entirely expected.
“You don`t unlearn driving that quickly,” Wolff stated in an interview with the Bloomberg Hot Pursuit podcast.
“In 2021 he was great, then the regulations changed, and it got a little bit more difficult, but he was still performing on a very high level.”
“And just by changing teams, suddenly you don`t lose your skills.”
“I think everybody needs to have a period of adaptation. Different car, different DNA of how that vehicle drives, a new engineering team that you need to start to work together then be involved with the continuous development on the car so it suits your driving style.”
“It`s an all-Italian team; he`s a British guy 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, he needs to find that mojo and then the second half of the season has been always very strong.”
“So don`t ever write Lewis Hamilton off.”
Missing Hamilton and the Search for a Replacement
Hamilton and Wolff formed one of F1`s most successful team principal-driver partnerships, with Hamilton securing six of his seven world championships at the Silver Arrows. This season is the first since Wolff joined Mercedes in 2013 that he hasn`t worked alongside Hamilton.
The Austrian acknowledged, “You always have to miss a person like Lewis Hamilton.”
“We are still close friends. We have given our word to each other that we will stay close friends.”
“We are fighting hard on track with the gloves off because we need to fight for our respective teams and that`s the kind of rule we have. But off track we spend some time with each other, we travel with each other, and I don`t want to miss the friend that I`ve gotten for so many years.”
He described their 12-year relationship as the longest driver-team collaboration rarely seen in sports and admitted, “when it comes to developing the car, obviously, he has a lot of experience, he has seen it all and to replace someone like Lewis Hamilton is always going to be difficult.”
Wolff on Developing Young Driver Kimi Antonelli
With Hamilton gone, George Russell has stepped into the senior driver role at Mercedes, and the team opted for the future by promoting Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli to their second seat.
The 18-year-old Italian has shown moments of potential in his rookie campaign, including a maiden pole position in the Miami Sprint and a first podium finish at the Canadian Grand Prix. However, he has also faced challenging weekends, typical for a newcomer.
Asked how long it might take a young driver like Antonelli to reach peak performance in F1, Wolff highlighted the evolving challenges, particularly tire management.
“That has changed in the last few years because it is so difficult to manage the tyres,” Wolff explained.
“It`s not only about speed – how fast can you go in a single lap or in a race – but nurturing the tyres to drive as fast as you can in the same time not sliding them and not making them overheat because you lose tonnes of lap time. That is the limitation for young drivers coming up.”
“A good example is Piastri, who is leading the championship. It took him a year and a half to catch up to Lando Norris and it`s been the first year that he has an edge on him and that is I think just the tyre management.”
“With Kimi, he doesn`t know all of the circuits. It was the first time in Montreal, so you start with a massive disadvantage, but the car was good and he was able to be fast.”
“But you probably need to look at the three-year programme and say that`s the time it needs for a young driver to challenge your more experienced team-mates, that are also super-fast. I mean, George today is among the best drivers in Formula 1. That`s something you need to give them, time.”
Gilbert Pendleton