Australian GP Lewis Hamilton departure hasn’t fully sunk in Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

MELBOURNE — In the first Formula 1 race for 12 years without Lewis Hamilton in his car, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said there were moments during the Australian Grand Prix he forgot the Brit had left the team.

The season opening race was Hamilton’s first for new team Ferrari.

Mercedes’ new era got off to a good start — Hamilton’s replacement, Italian wonderkid Andrea Kimi Antontelli, finished fourth on debut, with George Russell finishing one place ahead on the podium.

After the race, Wolff said at times he found his sight drifting to his former driver when he was looking at F1’s three-lettered timing screen.

“When I was looking at the screens at times, the way I looked at it is like we had three drivers, because I was looking at RUS, I was looking at ANT, and I was looking at HAM…and you realise HAM is actually with Ferrari and is not with us anymore,” Wolff said, when asked how the first weekend without Hamilton had felt from his perspective.

“So it still feels… it was such a long time, it’s logic, you cannot just say he’s gone and you don’t care anymore. We very much care how he’s doing, but obviously on track he’s the competition and we need to beat the competition.”

Hamilton’s Ferrari debut was less eye-catching in terms of final result, with the seven-time world champion finishing 10th, enough to collect the final point on offer for drivers at a grand prix.

McLaren‘s Lando Norris won the race after taking pole position on Sunday.

After qualifying, Russell had suggested McLaren might already have an insurmountable advantage going into the new season.

Source: espn.com