Yesterday at 07:25
Toto Wolff believes Lewis Hamilton is still capable of winning an
eighth F1 world title, "if he has the car underneath him." Hamilton
has stated he does not intend to retire from F1 until he wins his
record-breaking eighth drivers' crown, eclipsing the joint record
of seven he holds with Michael Schumacher. He lost out on that
eighth title in controversial circumstances to Max Verstappen in
the 2021 finale, but since then, Verstappen has swept to all three
titles. For 2025, Hamilton decided to move to Ferrari in the hopes
of breaking Schumacher's record with the Scuderia, and ending the
long drought the team has endured for a drivers' champion - the
last being Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. However, in the summer break of
his first season with the team, Hamilton is yet to record a grand
prix podium, and even claimed after qualifying 12th in Hungary that
he was "useless" and that the team needed to look for "another
driver." It is well-known that Hamilton's driving style has a
fundamental disconnect with the ground-effect cars, which are set
to be replaced by all-new machines for 2026. Wolff, with whom
Hamilton won six of his seven titles and 84 of his 105 grands prix,
believes his former driver still has the quality to become F1's
first octuple world champion. "I think if he has the car
underneath him, and has the confidence in that it does what he
wants, then yes," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365. "If
he has a car that is not giving him the feedback that he wants,
like the Mercedes of the last few years, and what seems to be the
Ferrari [this year], then not. "But if you're asking me whether he
still has it, he definitely has."
