Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is confident “hungry” Lewis Hamilton will “go for a while” yet in Formula 1 after claiming his seventh championship.
On Sunday, the Briton equalled Michael Schumacher’s record for the most titles with a champion’s drive in difficult conditions to win the Turkish Grand Prix, making Hamilton F1’s statistical greatest of all time.
And reflecting on the race, Wolff says it was a victory that highlighted Hamilton’s ability.
“It shows how he’s capable of coping with the situation that went against him at the beginning,” he told Sky Sports, this after a mistake dropped Lewis from third to sixth on the opening lap.
“He was the only one who kept it on the road, that is the difference today.”
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After winning at Imola two weeks ago, Hamilton admitted for the first time, there was “no guarantee” he’d stay in F1 after 2020, with his contract at Mercedes expiring.
However, on Sunday, the 35-year-old claimed he was only just getting started and his boss doesn’t disagree.
“Yes, look at what has happened today, he was hungry as a lion,” said Wolff. “Driving a [intermediate] tyre on slicks at the end with a risk of rain, I don’t see any of the motivation dropping.”
The factor that has been causing the most speculation over the future of Hamilton, has been the future of Toto himself, who has hinted at looking for his successor as team boss.
“He loves racing, and the competition, as does the team and myself,” Wolff said. “I think if we didn’t have the competition against the stopwatch, life would be not as fun.
“So I see us going for more next year, maybe putting another great year on, and then we have this tremendous challenging regulation change for 2022.
“We’ll go for a while.”
Previously, Hamilton and Wolff have said talks over a new contract would wait until the championships are secured, but now that, that is the case…
“I think more than likely, we are looking towards the end of the year,” Wolff said.
“Not that we wouldn’t find time for each other, but I don’t want to put ourselves under pressure to say before Bahrain or before Abu Dhabi we will announce a new contract.
“There isn’t any pressure. When it’s done, it’s done.”