Three Weeks After Toto Wolff’s Bold Prediction, Lewis Hamilton Makes Mercedes U-Turn With “Hard to Drive” Revelation

Toto Wolff’s confidence has taken a huge blow with Lewis Hamilton’s latest revelation in Austria, and now in the United Kingdom. Three weeks ago, the Mercedes boss claimed that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could go for a win at Silverstone, but the seven-time world champion’s words have now contradicted Wolff.

Despite having a slow start to the year, the Silver Arrows picked themselves up with their upgrade package in Monaco. They began outperforming their nearest rivals Aston Martin and made huge strides as the season progressed. They were third in the standings, closer to Ferrari than they were to Aston Martin in P2, but they have now taken the runners-up spot behind Red Bull (for the time being).

However, Mercedes’ Austrian GP race did not make fans of the German outfit optimistic about their chances in Silverstone. The Mercedes duo of Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished their race in P7 and P8. Additionally, Wolff wasn’t particularly strong during FP1 and FP2 on Friday, ahead of the British GP.

Lewis Hamilton reveals startling Mercedes facts

After a disappointing FP2 on Friday, Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished P12 and P15 respectively, the latter recalled his firm stance on the team’s current state. In Austria, the 38-year-old insisted that the car was hard to drive. However, things didn’t change at Silverstone, as the Mercedes star echoed his words.

Talking about this in an interview, the 38-year-old stated as per Mercedes F1 Team News, “In terms of the car, we struggle with the same thing most of the time. It’s a hard car to drive, and it remains a hard car to drive no matter what tune we make.”

A tricky Friday comes to a close at Silverstone.

Working out how to extract the best from the tyres overnight will be crucial in helping to bring us closer to the front on Quali day. pic.twitter.com/vp5mW1TwNh

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 7, 2023

This revelation has been in stark contrast to what Toto Wolff stated earlier. If this continues, the gap between Red Bull and Mercedes will keep increasing, which will keep adding to Hamilton’s frustrations.

Red Bull outshines Mercedes yet again

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s FP performances provided a glimpse of how they are well on their way to ruining Lewis Hamilton’s hope for a home victory in Silverstone. The Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Perez finished the FP1 in P1 and P2, whereas they finished FP2 in P1 and P4, respectively.

Keeping aside the German giants, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and McLaren have reportedly brought massive upgrades to the 2023 British Grand Prix. With Aston Martin and Ferrari eyeing the P2 spot, McLaren’s target is set on Alpine who are in P5.

Verstappen has never emerged victorious in the British GP. Although, he did win the one-off 70th Anniversary GP that took place in 2020 in Silverstone. At the British GP, in the years, where he dominated, he crashed out in 2021, and then in 2022 he had to fend off Mick Schumacher to finish in P7. It’ll be interesting to see if the two-time world champion can finally snatch a win at the 2023 British GP.