Toto Wolff lauds five-time world champion and says there's "more to come"; Mercedes boss delighted after toughest championship
Tuesday 4 December 2018 14:44, UK
Lewis Hamilton has driven better than ever to win his historic fifth F1 world championship, says Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Hamilton has cemented his place among the greats of the sport with his latest title triumph, the fourth in the six seasons since he joined Mercedes from McLaren.
Wolff says the 33-year-old has succeeded in raising the bar again this season.
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"This is the best Lewis Hamilton I've seen in the last six years," said Wolff, who joined the Brackley team at the same time as the Englishman in 2013.
"He's driven better, he's been better out of the car. Very, very complete.
"But as we try to reach for more, it's never completely complete."
Indeed, the Mercedes chief is confident "there is more to come" from his star driver, with Hamilton himself making clear in the wake of his title coronation in Mexico on Sunday that he is hungry for more success.
Talk has already inevitably turned to whether Hamilton can now hunt down Michael Schumacher's all-time record of seven championships - although Wolff says more immediate targets will purely be on the mind in 2019.
"One of his great character traits is that he concentrates on the today," added the Austrian.
"Before reaching seven there is six to win and we haven't scored a single point for that one."
Mercedes' toughest championship
Like last year, Hamilton has won the Drivers' Championship with two races to spare, but Wolff says the sterner challenge posed by Ferrari for most of the year has made 2018's content the most intense.
"This one was definitely the hardest because it swung so many times," explained Wolff.
"In the 2016 season when we won 19 out of the 21 races that was nice and enjoyable and less stressful. But there is also the risk of complacency creeping in.
"Then the regs were changed [for 2017] and it really motivated us to win the championship [again] after a regulation change.
"This one was just a gloves-off fight all year."
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