Toto Wolff has revealed his joy to have witnessed Lewis Hamilton claim his 184th career podium "on merit" following a difficult run of races for the seven-time World Champion. Mercedes appeared competitive during the Canadian Grand Prix, with Hamilton at one stage fighting his way into the battle for the win thanks to a late-race Safety Car. It is the first time that he has finished inside the top three since the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, at which he profited from retirements for both Red Bull cars. But in Montreal, nothing was handed to him, with Hamilton having kept it clean all weekend to bounce back from a difficult Friday riddled with set-up mistakes.
Wolff says luck has finally turned for Hamilton
Wolff has defended Hamilton staunchly throughout a run that saw teammate George Russell finish ahead of him in seven consecutive races, with the Austrian so often blaming bad luck for the 37-year-old's results. "You need to take a podium as a good result, especially one on merit, but I'm happy for Lewis because he was really disadvantaged in some of the races where the Safety Car, for example, went against him," Wolff told select members of the media, including RacingNews365.com . "He could have scored podiums and much better results. It was never his wrongdoing, only bad luck. "Seeing him on the podium with nothing gifted to him, that's good to see."
Mercedes looking forward after Canada result
While Mercedes may have shown strong pace in Canada, Wolff says there is still work to do to ensure Hamilton's car remains competitive for the upcoming British Grand Prix weekend. "I think we are all very happy with the fifth podium and we've seen glimpses of performance that we have, but it's far away from the expectation, our own expectations on ourselves," he continued. "Everybody is in a good space. But still, as I said before, there's lots of work still to do."
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