Toto Wolff has admitted he would not blame Lewis Hamilton for seeking a move away from Mercedes if the sport’s once-dominant team fails to reverse its slump.
Hamilton’s £40m-a-year contract with the Silver Arrows expires at the end of the season and his future is under the microscope following their poor start to 2023.
Hamilton was only fifth at the first round in Bahrain before he finished a distant 11th in practice on Friday for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, one second adrift of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Although team principal Wolff remains convinced that Hamilton, 38, will pen a new deal, he also said that his star driver’s head could be turned as he pursues a record eighth world championship. “If Lewis wants to win another championship he needs to make sure he has the car,” said Wolff. “And if we cannot demonstrate that we are able to give him a car in the next couple of years then he will need to look everywhere.