Toto Wolff would accept if Lewis Hamilton chose to leave Mercedes “in a year or two” should they remain uncompetitive.
After going through the first winless season of his 15-year Formula 1 career in 2022, the seven-time world champion is already facing the prospect of a second in 2023 following a difficult first two races.
Indeed, having fallen further behind Red Bull and even been overtaken by customer team Aston Martin, Hamilton has been pretty vocal in his criticism of Mercedes.
This also comes in the final year of the Briton’s contract at Mercedes, but…
“I don’t think that Lewis will leave Mercedes,” team boss Wolff said in Jeddah.
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“He is at the stage of his career where we trust each other. We have formed a great bond with each other. We have no reason to doubt each other, even though this is a difficult spell.
“It will be so nice when we come out of this valley of tears and come back to solid performances.
“Nevertheless, if he wants to win another championship, he needs to make sure that he has the car [to do that],” the Austrian acknowledged.
“And if we cannot demonstrate that we’re able to give him a car in the next couple of years, then he needs to look elsewhere.
“I don’t think he’s doing it at this stage, but I will have no grouch if that happens in a year or two.”
Mercedes is currently in the process of overhauling the design of its maligned 2023 car after admitting to making the wrong decision in sticking to the current design philosophy.
Ahead of this weekend’s race in Australia though, Wolff voiced optimism by what he’s seeing out of Brackley.
“The progress we saw in Saudi Arabia was encouraging. We maximised the package we had and scored some solid points,” he said via Formula1.com.
“More importantly, we continued to learn and understand more about the W14 and our development direction. Everyone back at base has been hard at work to turn these learnings into performance.
10 years since Lewis’ first start for the Team in Melbourne, we’re heading back to Australia. ?
142 podiums, 82 wins, 77 poles and six titles later…
And we’re not done yet. ? pic.twitter.com/2nC5G8Yazh
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 28, 2023
“The signs we are seeing back at the factory are promising, but we have got to take it step by step, and won’t get carried away until we see performance translated into lap time on track.
“The competitive order behind Red Bull is tight, with small margins having a big effect on points scored. There remains a significant gap to the front and that is ultimately what we are interested in closing.”