Toto Wolff reveals tough love comment to Lewis Hamilton after ‘useless’ outburst
Toto Wolff has weighed in on Lewis Hamilton's 'useless' criticism
Toto Wolff says while it’s all good and well that Lewis Hamilton wears his heart on his sleeve, his disparaging comments about himself in Hungary were a “bad moment” for the seven-time world champion.
After all, greats like Michael Jordan would never call themselves useless and declare the team should change the player.
Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton’s ‘useless’ comment: That was wrong to say that
Hamilton went through a bad patch in the run-up to Formula 1’s annual summer break when he failed to make it into Q3 in three successive qualifying sessions.
His Sprint quali at the Belgian Grand Prix ended with the Ferrari driver stationary in the Bus Stop Chicane run-off area after a spin, while in qualifying for the grand prix, a track limit violation at Raidillon cost him his fastest lap time.
Recording back-to-back Q1 eliminations, he declared: “It’s a very poor performance for myself.”
A week later in Hungary, Hamilton progressed to Q2 but that’s where his qualifying ended as he missed out on a Q3 berth by a quarter of a second. Adding to his misery, his teammate Charles Leclerc went on to put the other Ferrari on pole position.
A visibly upset Hamilton told Sky F1: “I’m useless, absolutely useless.
“The team, they have no problem – you’ve seen the car is on pole. So, they probably need to change driver.”
His self-criticism raised eyebrows in the paddock, but one person wasn’t pandering to it – his former Mercedes team principal Wolff.
“I thought that was wrong to say that and I told him that the same evening and again the next day,” Wolff revealed to GPBlog.
“Did you ever hear Michael Jordan say about himself, I’m useless and that you change the player? No.
“So, you’re wearing your heart on your sleeve, which is good, which is a fantastic character trait of his, that he speaks his emotion. And that makes him also the superstar he is, that he has those emotions and doesn’t hide.
“But that one, I felt was just such a bad moment for him that he said that, because it’s simply not true.”
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16 races into his first season as a Ferrari driver, Hamilton has yet to secure a debut podium in red. Should the Briton fall short of the podium, it would mark his first Formula 1 campaign in his 19 years on the grid without a top-three grand prix result.
“It’s clear that there is moments of big frustration,” Wolff said. “But he’s had those frustrations with us as well.
“He just needs another good race weekend or two and then we’re gonna see a very different Lewis Hamilton.”
But while Hamilton’s Formula 1 career will most likely end at Ferrari, Wolff says his legacy will forever be tied to Mercedes just as Michael Schumacher’s legacy will always be his time as a Ferrari driver.
“He’s gonna retire, nobody’s gonna ever know that he was at Ferrari at the end,” said the Austrian. “Who thinks about the Schumacher and Mercedes time? That isn’t relevant for Schumacher’s career.”
That, however, could change if Hamilton were to secure his record-breaking eighth Drivers’ Championship title with Ferrari, thus breaking his tie with Schumacher.
Wolff previously warned that Hamilton should never be written off.
“He’s the GOAT and he will always be the GOAT,” he told PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher and other publications after the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“There are brand new cars [in F1 2026] which are completely different to drive. New power units that need an intelligent way of managing the energy. So that’s absolutely on for Lewis.
“I hope he stays on for many more years, and certainly next year is going to be an important one.”
Wolff concluded on Hamilton: “But you ask me if he still has it? He definitely has it.”
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