Toto Wolff defends Lewis Hamilton’s recent results after seven-time champion qualifies seventh for Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has defended Lewis Hamilton after he qualified seventh for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this year.

This season Hamilton has been struggling with porpoising issues with his car and has finished behind Russell in Spain, Monaco and Baku.

However, Mercedes boss Wolff says Hamilton is trying out new ways to fix a new aerodynamic problem which is caused by the airflow under the car being disrupted.

“Lewis has been trying some quite experimental parts of the car and there was a different floor solution on his car that didn’t work,” Wolff said.

“I am very close to it and I see one session one is faster and then next the other is. And because the car is on a knife edge, if you put a foot wrong, in terms of experiments on the car – which need to be done in order for us to learn how to perform and where to put the car – there is 0.2-0.3secs immediately between them.

“And the last three races these experiments have gone wrong with Lewis and not with George.”

Mercedes brought in a new floor design for the Spanish Grand Prix to solve the issue of bouncing, but the issue of bottoming remains.

Russell said: “The bottoming has been extreme. We have finally got on top of the porpoising issue and we are now so close to the ground to get the maximum aerodynamic benefits and it’s just brutal out there, being shaken to pieces.

“You can barely see where to brake at the end of the straight because it is bouncing around so much.

“I don’t think we’re the only car. I think maybe half the grid are in the same boat and frustratingly Ferrari are in the same boat but they somehow seem to make it work. Everyone is working super-hard to try and resolve these issues.”