Lewis Hamilton is behind George Russell due to bad luck, says Wolff – Toto Wolff has once again come to the rescue of his ailing Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton. And to explain the British drivers’ poor results, the Mercedes F1 boss points to the seven-time world champion’s lack of success to be a mixture of event that played out against the seven time champion.

It is true that between the safety cars, the flags and the blocking by certain drivers, the British driver has had his share of “bad luck”. Nevertheless, the fact that he is no longer successful can also be the result of a feverish psychological state. This seems to be the case for Lewis, visibly depressed and even discouraged by the situation he is experiencing. This is understandable, given his track record.

The fact remains that on the track, Hamilton is often behind Russell, on a regular basis, during free practice and qualifying. Too many occasions for a driver of his experience, against a young driver. But Lewis is probably only at 90% of his capacity, at the controls of a car that is difficult to drive, and that does not allow him to fight for victory anymore, although as a driver often cited as the greatest of all time, it is strange how he isn’t able to find a way around the problems faced.

On the other hand, his teammate has everything to prove and everything to gain by beating the 44 car, without taking any margin in driving. Risk-taking is perhaps the key to the observed differences in competitiveness between the two men.

“I think when you look at the bad luck Lewis has had – I mean look at the race in Monaco, the contact with Esteban [Ocon] after being stuck behind him, stuck behind Fernando,

“The red flag in qualifying […]. I think the balance is going to tip for these unlucky situations to stop for Lewis,” Wolff said in an interview with the official Formula One website.

“He could have been there and covered Lando’s [Norris’] pit stop window or even fought with George and Lando up front because his pace allowed it. They [Hamilton and Russell] are very often the same pace, one leads, then the other, and it’s great also how they work together to get our car right, because we need to get this car back on track.”

In any case, as far as the fight for the drivers’ title is concerned, the game seems to be up for Lewis Hamilton, while his team-mate could still have a slim chance. Of course, this rest on the condition that Mercedes F1 finally finds its way back to success, something that is becoming difficult to believe in, given this recurrent porpoising, visibly impossible to eradicate on all tracks.