Wolff appreciates Hamilton’s emotions in ‘tough championship’

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he understands the raw emotions Lewis Hamilton displayed after securing a historic pole position at the British Grand Prix and feels the defending Formula 1 world champion was the difference at Silverstone.

After trailing Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel from the opening runs in Q3, Hamilton produced a monumental effort to overhaul his title rival to secure pole position by just 0.044s at his home event.

Hamilton’s pole marks his sixth career pole position at the British Grand Prix – equalling Ayrton Senna for most poles at a driver’s home race – and the Mercedes driver says he was ‘shaking through emotion’ following qualifying.

Wolff has supported his driver’s strong emotional outpouring, which was also heard during the Austrian Grand Prix when a Mercedes strategy blunder left Hamilton fuming over his team radio, and feels with the pressures of the current F1 world championship battle it could mark the tiny differences which give him an edge.

“I can understand [his emotions] because this is one of the tracks that he likes and he performs very well at,” Wolff said. “Coming out with a few thousandths of margin looks like an exceptional effort.

“When you see the cars on track it’s incredible what these drivers are able to achieve and the loads these cars are able to withstand. I think that it is a tough championship this year, the small margins swing from race to race and a few thousandths can make the difference.

“At most of the races that we had this season a tenth would have made the difference between pole and P2, insofar I can understand he is very emotional about it.”

Hamilton is aiming to overhaul Vettel’s one-point lead in the F1 world championship following his first retirement in 33 races due to a fuel pressure issue suffered at the Red Bull Ring.