- Team principal pays tribute to driver for morale lead
- ‘I’m not sure at all whether we can bounce back’
The Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has paid tribute to Lewis Hamilton’s role in maintaining team morale and being determinedly positive despite the team’s poor performance this year. Wolff also insisted Mercedes had taken steps to pull out of their slump but warned that a return to the top would be no easy task.
Hamilton closed out the year with a mechanical failure in the season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday. The race was won with ease by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who had already clinched his second world championship. For Hamilton it was the end to a season to forget with a car that has been off the pace. He has failed to win a race, losing his record as the only driver to have taken a victory in every season he has competed in F1 and finished sixth in the title race, his lowest standing in 16 years of racing.