Wolff: Hamilton makes the difference at Mercedes

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says that Lewis Hamilton is able to make the difference on difficult days for Mercedes. Hamilton wrapped up his fifth driver's title in Mexico after a difficult battle with Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari in 2018.

For much of the season it was Mercedes who was playing catchup to the incredible development rate of Ferrari, however in races that Mercedes might have been weaker at Hamilton was able to limit damage and sometimes even win in circumstances that didn't suit the Mercedes W09.

"This is the best Lewis Hamilton I have seen in the last six years," Wolff told Formula1.com. "He has driven better, he has been better out of the car. Very, very complete."

"(His biggest strength is) keeping his calm and holding his nerve. We had times when the car was good enough to win and times when the car was not good enough to win. But he was very stable.

"It's the ability of combining talent with hard work, intellect and emotional intelligence. All great champions have all four of them.

"If one is missing, you can still be a successful racing driver but you are never going to achieve this greatness."

With his fifth championship triumph, the Brit is in sight of Michael Schumacher's previously untouchable record of seven world titles and Wolff believes that based on current form, he could go on to match it.

"As long as he is in a good car and continues to enjoy it in the way he does today, there is more to come.

"But the reason he has won the fifth championship is that he concentrates on the job in hand and does not look too far away. Because before you win a seventh there is a sixth to win, and we haven't scored a single point for that one."