Hamilton is 'hungry, focused and determined' for title run-in

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has praised the recent performances of Lewis Hamilton, particularly after the summer break, in the Formula 1 championship, but stressed that the drivers' and constructors' titles are far from over despite Mercedes leading in both with five races remaining.

During the Russian Grand Prix at the weekend, Wolff controversially initiated team orders on Valtteri Bottas requesting that he swap his first position with Hamilton so the latter could gain a further advantage over Sebastian Vettel in the rankings.

Wolff, who was apologetic to Bottas following the incident, has revealed that Hamilton visited the Mercedes headquarters in Brackley, and is laser-focused on lifting the title.

“Lewis was in Brackley this week and is hungry, focused and completely determined to succeed,” the Mercedes team principal said.

“It has been great to see the power he has brought to this championship and how he has taken it to the next level since the summer break.”

Hamilton holds a 50-point lead over Vettel in the standings, while Mercedes are comfortably ahead of Ferrari also, but Wolff has stressed that neither championship is done and dusted despite the healthy advantages for both driver and team.

“We left Sochi with a bigger lead in both championships, but we know that doesn’t mean anything because our fight with Ferrari is far from being over," Wolff insisted.

“We can take nothing for granted and we will stay at maximum attack on every front in the next races. The battle with Ferrari remains extremely close.

“Suzuka will be another challenging weekend for us. It’s a track that shows some similarities to Silverstone, where we didn’t perform as strongly this year as we had done in previous seasons.

“So we’re going to Japan knowing that we all have to be at our very best if we want to claim the win.”

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