Toto Wolff shares what’s surprised him about Lewis Hamilton since announcing Ferrari move

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Lewis Hamilton seemed to have reached a turning point in his miserable season when he qualified second for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race on Friday. But it was a false dawn in the end.

Hamilton produced what former teammate Nico Rosberg called a ‘magical’ performance to secure a spot on the front row. When the rain arrived late in the session, he and Lando Norris came alive.

In the sprint race itself, he took the lead at the first corner with what Rosberg dubbed a ‘super smart’ move on Norris. The McLaren driver himself admitted his rival had done a ‘good job’.

The seven-time world champion would hold the lead until around the halfway point of the race, when Max Verstappen eased past. Verstappen had initially started slowly from 4th but he soon mounted an unstoppable charge.

Still, Hamilton’s runner-up finish delivered his best haul of points (seven) in any session this season. He had a launchpad for the remainder of the weekend.

Instead, a mistake at the hairpin saw him make a first Q1 exit since the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Rosberg called it a ‘seriously painful’ blow.

Meanwhile, teammate George Russell reached Q3 and set the eighth fastest time, opening up a 4-1 lead over Hamilton in their head-to-head. Rosberg insisted any talk that Russell benefitted from a superior set-up is an ‘excuse’.

In the race itself, the 39-year-old was able to progress from 18th to ninth to at least ensure he got points on the board. But Russell was once again the lead Mercedes in sixth.

Toto Wolff on the demeanour of Lewis Hamilton

Speaking to Servus TV, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff lifted the lid on Hamilton’s mood behind the scenes. The Chinese GP weekend was ultimately a continuation of his worst-ever start to a season.

Despite that, Wolff says he’s in a ‘surprisingly’ positive frame of mind, more so than he would have been in the past when things didn’t go his way. Hamilton is, of course, in his final year with the team before he joins Ferrari for 2025.

• READ MORE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

The Scuderia are a whopping 99 points ahead of Mercedes in the standings after the first five rounds. Karun Chandhok says their form is the only thing Hamilton will have ‘enjoyed’ this year.

David Coulthard has previously claimed that, mentally, the 103-time race-winner may already be at Ferrari. But Wolff insists he remains a ‘true professional’.

He said: “Lewis is in a surprisingly good mood. I don’t know if it’s the knowledge that he will go somewhere else next year. But it’s not like him at all. He’s a true professional.”

Ferrari excited ahead of Lewis Hamilton arrival

While we’re clearly not seeing the best version of Hamilton right now, Ferrari will see his sprint qualifying display as an indication that class is permanent. And the team are privately buzzing at the prospect of welcoming him to Maranello.

One Ferrari insider told Sky Sports’ Craig Slater that they expect the team to rally around Hamilton in the same way they once did for Michael Schumacher. Schumacher won five of his seven titles with the Prancing Horse between 2000 and 2004.

While Hamilton underachieved more than perhaps anybody else in qualifying on Saturday, he still produced a solid recovery drive in Shanghai. That earned him plenty of plaudits from fans.

As the Englishman struggles at the upper end of the midfield, he may be wincing at what Verstappen is doing up front. The Red Bull driver has been told he’s on an inexorable march to breaking Hamilton’s records right now.