Toto Wolff is firm in his belief that Lewis Hamilton will "come alive" and win a record eighth Formula 1 World Championship - should Mercedes be able to deliver a car capable.
Hamilton did not win a Grand Prix for the second straight season in 2023, with his last victory coming at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. Mercedes itself went winless for the first time since 2011 as the team struggled with the W14.
Since Hamilton last won a race, Max Verstappen has won 35 and all three of his World Championships, with Hamilton stuck level with Michael Schumacher on seven titles.
Hamilton has indicated that he will not retire until he does break the record held with the former go-karter from Kerpen, with Wolff adamant that if given a sniff of victory with the 2024 W15, Hamilton will deliver.
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Wolff: Hamilton win will again
"From Lewis's perspective, he had a bad weekend," Wolff told media including RacingNews365.
"That doesn't do anything about him being the greatest driver in the world, and if we are able to give him a car, then he will be fighting for a World Championship. I have no doubt.
"It is clear that when you have a Formula 1 car like we have now, you will never lead with it and have good and bad weekends.
"But at the end, every time when we've seen that Lewis has somebody as a target in front of him, and it was about winning the race, then the real Lewis comes alive.
"We just need to give him a car, that is the first thing.
"The second thing is that we have board in our factory showing all the Constructors' World Championship titles since 1958, and the table goes until 2050.
"We have the badges for each of the years, and there are 27 empty badges, and I would like to look back in 20 years and say there are many more Mercedes stars.
"I hate retrospective views, but when we look back in 10 or 20 yeas and we consider the decade that we've had [since 2013], it will read second, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, third, second.
"When you look back at it from that perspective, you kind of say: 'That was okay,' but from a microview, there's one guy who won 19 races [in 2023], and that is not good enough [from us]."
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