Wolff: Hamilton motivation intact, no need to 'get in touch' with other drivers

Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton's drive and motivation for F1 remain intact despite the team's struggles this season, and the Mercedes boss felt no need to "get in touch" with any other driver in case the Briton decided to call it a day.

Mercedes is currently in the midst of its worst campaign in F1 since the advent of the hybrid era in 2014, with the Brackley squad struggling in the first half of the season to get on top of the aerodynamic problems that impacted its new-generation W13 silver arrow.

The car's porpoising issues have inevitably weighed on the performance of both Hamilton and teammate George Russell, with the former enduring so far his first winless year in F1 since joining motorsport's elite in 2007.

Hamilton is contracted to Mercedes until the end of 2023, but the team's struggles triggered rumors that the Briton could throw in the towel and bow out of the sport a year early.

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However, Wolff has dismissed such a prospect and has never considered a contingency plan to cover a potential early exit by Hamilton.
"I've not been in touch with any other driver," Wolff told Motorsport.com.

"Lewis and I, even if the season would have gone wrong, we would have at least under the principle of hope, stayed together next year.

"And [for] a couple of months, we're talking [if] this is going to go five or 10 years. So none of that is true.

"I haven't been in touch actively or reactively [with anyone] about a drive with us going forward."

While Hamilton has admitted to enduring frustrating moments this season, he dismissed early on "as a bunch of nonsense" speculation about his future.

However, Wolff says the 37-year-old went through a period of "acceptance of this as the new reality" went it became clear that his title hopes were inevitably receding.

"That's certainly not a joyful experience, but after the first few races, he was very special," Wolff said.

"He got settled in a situation that was all about how can we move this car back to the front.

"And even when I was not at my best, he was the most positive person in the room, building everyone up even if driving this car is a handful."

Gradually, Mercedes' engineers have been able to mitigate the effects of their car's porpoising, which has led to a marked improvement of the silver arrow's performance out on the track.

Hamilton headed into F1's summer break on the back of five podium finishes and after a competitive race in Hungary which he believed demonstrated that Mercedes now has the potential to win.

"To fight and battle with Ferrari for the first time, that’s huge," he said in Budapest.

"Red Bull are ahead. We’ve made huge progress and so to have consistency and two double podiums in the last two races gives us great hope.

"If we are able to take this pace in the second half we can fight with Red Bull and Ferrari."

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