British Grand Prix: Toto Wolff backs Lewis Hamilton for ninth Silverstone victory despite Mercedes issues

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes Lewis Hamilton can win the British Grand Prix despite having a car that’s currently off the pace.

Hamilton has won his home race a record eight times and is bidding for a fourth straight victory at Silverstone this weekend.

But his Mercedes has been lacking the speed of Max Verstappen’s front-running Red Bull and the Ferraris all season to date.

Despite that, Wolff said: “I think if we give him a car that is just a few tenths off the leaders, he will win the race. He’s the most complete driver and everybody has his favourite circuit and, with Lewis, it was always Silverstone, and Montreal and Hungary as well.

“I guess if you have 150,000 people cheering for you in the grandstands it gives you the home game advantage. Lewis deserves a strong result and a victory because he has been particularly unlucky this season.”

Mercedes have endured fluctuating fortunes in recent weeks. They appeared to address many of the issues with their porpoising car at the Spanish Grand Prix, where George Russell took a podium.

There followed two tough weeks in Monaco and Baku, with all manner of problems with the two cars, before Hamilton clinched his second podium of the season at the last race, the Canadian Grand Prix.

In the wake of Montreal, Mercedes said they were optimistic of closing the gap on the front two teams heading to Silverstone.

And speaking at the start of the British Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton said: “We are working towards the first win of 2022. It would be an incredible result if we got that this weekend.”