Mercedes chief reveals key reason for Hamilton having advantage over Vettel in the title race
Hamilton has surged ahead of Vettel in the title race in the last four races.
Toto Wolff has praised Lewis Hamilton for his reaction this season and believes his driver has not shown one moment of "weakness" during his Formula 1 drivers' title battle with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
The Mercedes chief believes his reaction is due to how he has changed and analysed his failings from the previous season's heartbreak which saw Nico Rogberg beat him to the title in the final race despite him winning more races during the campaign.
The Briton is on the cusp of his fourth title going into the final four races of the campaign as he holds a commanding 59-point lead over his title rival Vettel. He has been helped by misfortune to the Ferrari driver, who has suffered three DNF's in his last four races scoring just 12 points from a possible 100.
However, Wolff admits that the Silver Arrows team can relate to how Ferrari are feeling as Rosberg in 2014 and Hamilton last season suffered similar fates that saw their title chances take a major hit.
"My experience of sportsmen, and the same applies to Nico, is it's almost inspiring the way we developed and looked at the weaknesses and improved the car and out of car," Wolff said, as quoted by ESPN. "Lewis, over the winter, has analysed what went wrong and since then we haven't seen a moment of weakness."
"If four races ago I was going to tell you that Sebastian was going to DNF two times and not score well one time then you would have said it was almost impossible. This is motor racing, a DNF or two and suddenly the whole thing swings around.
"We had this situation internally in the team and you can say that it's easier to manage because the team knew it was going to win but you've got to remember when Nico broke down in Singapore [in 2014] that meant the end of the championship or was a big blow to his chances in so far that we can relate to it.
"The Ferrari guys will certainly be feeling awful. I get on very well with them and with Maurizio and its not a situation you want to be in."