Toto Wolff makes worrying Lewis Hamilton comment and disagrees with Mercedes engineer

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has admitted to doubts over whether Lewis Hamilton can win a record eighth F1 title this year. The Brit was third at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, finishing behind Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. And he'll be hoping to clinch top spot when this weekend's Saudi Arabian GP takes place.

Hamilton and Mercedes had a turbulent pre-season, encountering issues with their vehicle while still reeling from December's dramatic F1 finale defeat to Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

However, they managed to put that adversity behind them by finishing third in Bahrain on Sunday afternoon.

Hamilton was fortunate that Verstappen and Sergio Perez were both forced to retire and admitted in the aftermath that he was pleased with the outcome of the race.

Some believe, however, that the 37-year-old will have his work cut out when it comes to moving ahead of Michael Schumacher in the history books.

And Wolff, who has recently sounded pessimistic about his star driver's chances, has now added to the doubt.

When asked by BILD what he thinks is more realistic between petrol prices dropping in Germany or Hamilton winning another title first, he responded by saying: "Phew, hard to say: I don't think the price of oil will change much in the future, but if OPEC agrees to open production, things can happen quickly.

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"That's why I say: First, the price of fuel will go down again."

Wolff also played down the chances of any big changes in Jeddah this weekend, insisting they need to come to a conclusion as to why they're 'lacking' behind their rivals.

"We need to understand where we're lacking in performance," added the Austrian.

"The sooner we recognise this, the faster we will be.

"This is physics - and not