SILVERSTONE, England: Lewis Hamilton has a real chance of winning his home British Grand Prix for a ninth time on Sunday, according to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, extending the record and atop Formula One for the first time this year – stand on the podium.
The seven-time world champion has gone 10 straight races without a win, marking the longest drought of his F1 career.
The once-dominant Mercedes was hit with a bouncing car while Red Bull and Ferrari set the pace in a new rule era.
However, Mercedes are introducing some key upgrades for Silverstone and Wolff refused to rule out a big result.
“I think if we give him a car that’s just a few tenths behind the leaders, he’ll win the race,” Wolff told Reuters at Silverstone.
“He’s the most complete driver ever and everyone has their favorite track and with Lewis it’s always been Silverstone and also Montreal and Hungary.
“I think if 150,000 people cheer for you in the stands, you have the home advantage.”
When asked if Mercedes could give him a car that was close enough to the competition, Wolff replied: “I would like that we have something here that is closer to the top than before.”
Hamilton, the sport’s most successful driver of all time, has 103 wins and poles but has only managed two third places so far this season, including two weeks ago at Canada – the Montreal circuit, where he took his maiden win in 2007.
He and Ferrari great Michael Schumacher are the only drivers to have won the same Grand Prix eight times, and no driver has ever done it nine times.
“We’re working towards that first win (of 2022). It would be an incredible result if we could achieve that this weekend,” said Hamilton.
The 37-year-old is 34 points behind team-mate George Russell, who is making his debut for Mercedes at home and has finished in the top five at every race this season.
“Lewis deserved a strong result and a win because he was particularly unlucky this season and George drove spectacularly,” said Wolff.
“His (Russell) winning a British Grand Prix would be like Lewis, both would be very exciting.”