Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global

Hamilton "in a league of his own" right now - Wolff

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton appears "in a league of his own" after the opening day of F1 2017 running at the Australian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08

XPB Images

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Toto Wolff, Executive Director, Mercedes AMG F1
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08

Three-time F1 champion Hamilton headed teammate Valtteri Bottas by almost six tenths in the first practice session of the season at Melbourne - and was half a second clear of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in FP2.

His Friday pace was cause for optimism for Wolff, who told Sky Sports: "He [Hamilton] is really in a league of his own at the moment.

"The one-lap pace was really good, and the long runs stable. He took the ultra-softs to, how many laps was it? 15, 16, 17, something like that. It was stable, I'm happy."

Wolff added later in the team bosses' press conference: "He had a very good day overall.

"For the team it was one of the better Fridays after having question marks in testing, good to bounce back in that way."

Opening day "99 percent perfect"

Hamilton himself was likewise very positive about his performance, saying he was relieved to have the car "exactly where it should be" after issues in pre-season testing.

"After struggling with some issues in Barcelona, we didn't know if we'd have the same thing here," Hamilton said.

"What's really encouraging is that we've arrived at the track just a week later and the car is exactly where it should be.

"It's feeling great out there and the guys have done a fantastic job. We've shown good form so far on both the long and short runs and we got every lap done that we wanted to."

However, the Briton insisted he was still wary of Ferrari's threat: "Coming into today, we really didn't know where we'd be. We knew from FP1 that the Ferraris weren't at their maximum.

"Of course, in FP2 all of a sudden they were quick. We'll see tomorrow how it really stands."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Verstappen admits Red Bull "a bit too slow"
Next article Vettel says balance issues held Ferrari back in practice

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global