Imola (dpa) – For Formula 1 record champion Lewis Hamilton, the world championship question is currently not. “I’m out of the world championship, that’s clear,” said the seven-time title holder after the next serious sporting setback this year.
With 13th place, the 37-year-old superstar didn’t even get into the points at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and team manager Toto Wolff immediately apologized to Hamilton for the “undriveable” Mercedes.
The car is not worthy of a world champion like Hamilton, emphasized Wolff. The fact that teammate George Russell made it to fourth place with the Silver Arrow in the race at the Imola was a highlight, said the team boss. But Wolff also made it clear: Without the very early exit of Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari and the mistake made by Charles Leclerc, who later placed sixth, also from the Scuderia, Russell would not have ended up so far up the field.
Wolff with mixed feelings
Wolff’s insight after four Grand Prix weekends on the Sky TV channel: “I think we can compete for third place in the Constructors’ World Championship, but nothing more.” However, he also pointed out in a media round: he did not want to say goodbye to the idea of the World Cup. “What I love about the sport is that it doesn’t always follow math.”
In the past eight years, Mercedes has won the team world championship, and the German factory team has also celebrated seven driver’s titles, six thanks to Hamilton. “We continue to work hard and keep hoping that we can get everything together,” emphasized Hamilton in Imola, where everything went wrong that could go wrong.
Hamilton is seventh in the standings with 28 points. Hamilton is already 58 points behind leader Leclerc.