Toto Wolff promises Lewis Hamilton a victory in the 2024 Formula 1 season

Lewis Hamilton had to watch on as his teammate George Russell won his second Grand Prix by capitalising on the spoils between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Mercedes have won two races since 2021, and both of them have been won by Russell. Hamilton, who is approaching 1,000 days without victory in F1, has been promised at least one more win by Toto Wolff.

Hamilton shocked friend and foe during the winter break with a move to Ferrari for 2025. After one of the most successful partnerships in Formula 1 history, Hamilton will leave Mercedes and Wolff behind for an adventure at Ferrari. The fact is that Mercedes missed the mark with the rules and regulations that were introduced in 2022 and haven’t really been competitive until recently.

Toto Wolff makes Hamilton a promise

Upgrades were applied, and Mercedes have been on the podium at each of the last three races. A podium was already looking likely for Russell before the crash between Norris and Verstappen. Mercedes are quicker again, and now it’s down to the drivers to pull the best result out of the bag. By his own admission, Hamilton has been off the pace and he even described his performance in Canada as one of the worst in his career. His team boss agrees.

“He had a bad spell. As a racing driver, it can be mind-crashing if you feel like you are not able to deliver your best performances in races. I just saw him now. He needs to go through this. This is not a situation that suddenly he has unlearned driving. Things have come together. He had a brilliant race in Barcelona, so we have just got to dive through this,” Wolff said on Sky Sports.

Hamilton has just 13 races left in his Mercedes career, and Wolff makes a promise. “We are going to win a race with him this year,” Wolff concluded.

Tearful Lewis Hamilton takes ‘fairytale’ victory at home British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton celebrates after winning the British Grand Prix.
Peter Cziborra/Reuters

Lewis Hamilton won his home race at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, battling to a thrilling, record-extending victory as the lead changed hands several times on a rain-slicked track at Silverstone.

The seven-time world champion rolled back the years to take his first race win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and a record-extending ninth victory at Silverstone, prompting delirious celebrations from the packed home crowd as a tearful Hamilton paraded around the track, holding the Union Jack aloft from his car.

And it was his old rival, Max Verstappen, who Hamilton fought off to secure the win as the Red Bull driver chipped away at the Briton’s lead in a dramatic finish, but was unable to overtake him.

For Hamilton to win his last British Grand Prix with Mercedes – the team with whom he dominated the sport for so long – seemed like a “fairytale,” team principal Toto Wolff told broadcaster Sky Sports after the race.

Lewis Hamilton celebrates on the podium after winning the British Grand Prix.
Peter Cziborra/Reuters

No other driver has won as many races at the same circuit as Hamilton has at Silverstone now, further cementing the 39-year-old’s legacy at the track and as the sport’s most successful ever driver.

Hamilton himself seemed overwhelmed by emotion too, embracing his father at the finish and telling Sky Sports that he “can’t stop crying.”

“It’s been since 2021, just everyday getting up trying to fight, to train, to put my mind to the task and work as hard as I can with this amazing team,” he said. “This is my last race here at the British Grand Prix with this team, so I wanted to win this so much for them.

“There’s definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn’t feel like I was good enough or whether I was going to get back to where I am today but the important thing is I had great people around me continuing to support me,” he added.

Hopes were high among the home crowd for a British winner at the race since there was a British 1-2-3 starting on the grid at Silverstone for the first time since 1962.

George Russell began on pole, ahead of his teammate Hamilton in second and McLaren’s Lando Norris in third, and Russell held the lead for the first third of the race until Hamilton streaked past his teammate.

But both Mercedes cars ran wide off the track across the run-off shortly afterwards, allowing Norris to overtake Russell and then to accelerate past Hamilton too.

As the rain poured down at Silverstone, Norris seemed assured in the lead but Hamilton began slowly reeling him in while Russell was forced to retire from the race with a technical issue and Verstappen started chasing the leaders down.

Once the rain cleared, the drivers pitted to change their tires again and Norris slightly misjudged his mark, adding an extra couple of seconds to his stop, and Hamilton capitalized to take the lead.

There was still drama to come in the closing laps of the race as Verstappen overtook Norris to take second and began chasing down Hamilton but ultimately ran out of road.