“He's the GOAT and always will be”: Toto Wolff defends Lewis Hamilton’s ‘I am useless’ comments after Hungary GP quali

Toto Wolff has come in defense of Lewis Hamilton following his comments after the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying. The British driver endured a torrid outing through the Budapest race weekend, which had kicked off with his qualifying session.

Hamilton, who failed to advance past the second round of qualifying, had dubbed himself ‘useless’ during his interaction with the media. The words of the seven-time champion had largely heralded the scene again following his underwhelming outing during the main race at the Hungary event.

When quizzed about the comments of Lewis Hamilton following the conclusion of the race weekend, Wolff, who worked alongside the 40-year-old for 12 years, detailed how he often wore his emotions on his sleeve. The Mercedes team boss also highlighted how he could often be emotional when he felt he was underperforming.

"No, that is Lewis wearing his heart on his sleeve. It's what he thought very much when he was asked after the session was very raw. He was doubting himself, and we had it in the past. When he felt that he had underperformed his expectations, and the team had its own goal, he's been that emotional, emotionally transparent since he was a young boy, a young adult,” he said during his interaction with the media.

"So, he's going to beat himself up. He's the GOAT. And he will always be the GOAT, and nobody's going to take that away. For sure, no single weekend or race season hasn't gone to plan."

Wolff’s backing of Lewis Hamilton comes shortly after Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur showed support for the 40-year-old. Hamilton will now aim to bounce back when the season resumes at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.

Lewis Hamilton reacts to his Hungarian Grand Prix race

Lewis Hamilton also reacted to his outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The former McLaren driver admitted to it being a challenging weekend and one to move on from.

Hamilton also stressed his appreciation for the efforts of the Ferrari team through the Grand Prix weekend. Sharing his thoughts, as quoted by the Ferrari official website, he stated:

“It’s been a challenging weekend and one to move on from. We weren’t able to make the progress we hoped for, but I’m grateful for the effort everyone in the team put in throughout the weekend. Now we head into the break. I’ll be using the time to reset, recharge and come back stronger. I’m not where I want to be yet, but the fight’s not over - don’t count me out.”

Lewis Hamilton, through his first 14 races of the 2025 campaign, has failed to achieve a podium finish and will aim to put an end to this drought when Formula 1 takes to Zandvoort for round 15 of the season.