03/05/2025
NEWS STORY
Toto Wolff has dismissed claims that seven-time world champion no longer has the magic.
The Briton's roller-coaster season continues in Miami, where he finished seventh in the Sprint Shootout, albeit just 0.222s off his teammate's pace.
Speaking on Thursday, Hamilton said that his 'settling in' period at Ferrari is reminiscent of his early days with Mercedes in 2013 following his shock switch from McLaren.
"When I joined Mercedes, the first six months were tough, getting attuned to working with new people," he said. "The engineers I'm working with now are used to setting up a car for a different driver and a different driving style, and I'm used to driving a car with a different driving style. So it's a combination of a bunch of different things."
Asked if he expects his move to Ferrari to take six months for things to fall into place, he replied: "I really don't know. I genuinely don't. We're working as hard as we can to shorten that, but it could be longer. Who knows?"
However, his old boss firmly believes that things will work out.
Asked if the seven-time world champion has lost his magic, Wolff replied: "I think we saw that magic in the Sprint Race... was it Shanghai? He was completely dominating that race.
"It's not like you have the magic in one race and then suddenly you lose the magic in the next one," he continued. "I very much believe that it's still there.
"If he aligns all his performance contributors and feels he is in the right space and the car is to his liking, he will be stellar," the Austrian added. "I have no doubt.
"But I'm also not surprised it has those road bumps," he admitted. "He was with us 12 years... the way of operating. He's been put in a Ferrari, where his teammate has been a long time. And his teammate clearly is one of the very good ones. So from the outside and speaking to him, it's a trajectory any new driver needs to go through in a top team."
Check out our Friday gallery from Miami here.