Ecclestone's Hamilton 'hand grenade' dismissed by Wolff

Toto Wolff has dismissed Bernie Ecclestone's "hand grenade" after the former Formula 1 chief said Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton's powers had begun to fade. Ecclestone claimed Hamilton appeared "fed up" with the rigours of F1 after failing to win any of the opening three races of 2018.

"He doesn't seem to be the Lewis that he was before," Ecclestone said ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. "I don't know whether it's me – but when you talk to him and see him act the way he acts generally, he's not the racer he was."

Hamilton shrugged off the 87-year-old's comments after qualifying second in Baku, saying he will prove his passion by the end of the season.

And Silver Arrows team boss Wolff warned against making such bold predictions with a whopping 18 races still to go.

Wolff said: "It's Bernie! I just had a game of backgammon against him and I lost. He comes in and throws a hand grenade and it's in the papers – it's great.

"How the news runs these days we are oscillating between exuberance and depression, and back again.

"When things are not going in the right direction it's doom days and when you win two races in a row it's the 'Mercedes dominance destroying the sport'. Maybe it's somewhere in the middle.

"Lewis is remarkably easy with these kind of things.

"All of us very much respect Bernie, but we have also learnt to take the comments with a smile. It's the same way he does it."

Wolff concedes that Mercedes have not been at their best collectively, but says Hamilton is leading the way as they look to end their worst win drought in the hybrid era.

"We haven't collectively performed on the level we would have wanted to," he said.

"There were three races we could have won and we didn't, that's a fact.

"I still see the fire and desire very much burning in him [Hamilton]."