‘The pendulum will swing’: Lewis Hamilton backed to turn his luck around by Toto Wolff

The Mercedes boss says Hamilton can bounce back as the season progresses

Lewis Hamilton has struggled this season (EPA)

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the “pendulum will swing” in Lewis Hamilton’s favour after a tricky start to the Formula 1 season for the driver.

Hamilton is currently sixth in the drivers’ standings in a campaign where many expected him to win a record eighth world title. The British star is having trouble with the car and he has had some unlucky spells on the track.

Most recently he had contact with Esteban Ocon at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday and was then held up by Fernando Alonso so he couldn’t progress higher than eighth place. Wolff says Hamilton’s time will come this season, however.

“He could have been right there and could have closed Lando [Norris, sixth], or even fight with George [Russell, fifth] and Lando at the front because that was his pace,” Wolff told Sky on Sunday.

“When you look at the bad spells Lewis had, stuck behind Fernando today, the contact with Esteban, the red flag in qualifying yesterday... I think the pendulum will swing and this unlucky situation will stop with Lewis as [he and teammate Russell] are very much on the same pace.”

Hamilton himself was frustrated by the latest result but more so by the shaking he experienced in the car. The driver has had issues with the Mercedes all season, mainly with porpoising, and he says he is “done” with it.

“I am praying that the car doesn’t feel like it does here because here it has felt the worst it has so far with the bumps,” Hamilton said in Monaco.

“My teeth and my jaw going the whole time, I am done with the shaking. Ours is so stiff that the suspension is driving it back into the ground. I am looking forward to some more open track and I am praying that it is not as bumpy as here.”

F1 will return on 12 June at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.