Wolff: "It's time for Hamilton's momentum to change"

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admits that Lewis Hamilton is due a change in fortunes after a difficult couple of races. After storming to success in Canada, Azerbaijan and Austria have contained struggles for the Brit, with those two races the first time since 2013 that he's finished off the podium in consecutive races.

In Azerbaijan, Hamilton had an issue with his headrest which meant that he had pit from the lead to fix it, handing victory to Daniel Ricciardo on a plate. Last weekend in Austria, a gearbox problem meant that Hamilton started down in eighth place, unable to challenge his championship rival Sebastian Vettel and teammate Valtteri Bottas.

"In my opinion Lewis had all the bad luck that you can have," Wolff said. "We’ve let him down with the headrest, we’ve let him down with the gearbox. Now it’s about time to fight back and hopefully that’s going to happen in Silverstone.

"Generally, I feel that he didn’t have a great time most recently. He didn’t have a great time in the race today because he was suffering from the car and the tyres, he didn’t have a great time with the gearbox troubles and the headrest. So it’s about time that this changes, the momentum goes in the other direction."

Wolff still remains sure that Hamilton is fully in the title battle despite the 32-year-old claiming it is an uphill struggle: "Lewis is still right in the fight," Wolff added. "It's not even half time in the championship and there are 275 points still to be won. Our target will be to let him fight back in the best possible way in Silverstone."

Fergal Walsh