JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Toto Wolff wouldn’t blame Lewis Hamilton for leaving Mercedes if the group’s struggles proceed for an additional yr or two.

Hamilton seems set for an additional disappointing season this yr after Mercedes slipped additional behind Crimson Bull over the winter and behind its engine buyer Aston Martin.

Hamilton has gained six of his seven titles with Mercedes, however his present contract expires on the finish of this yr.

Crew boss Wolff, who known as on his engineers to return to the drafting board after the primary qualifying session of the yr in Bahrain, doesn’t anticipate Hamilton to go away Mercedes on the finish of this yr however wouldn’t maintain a grudge in opposition to his driver if he considers different choices past that.

“I do not suppose that Lewis will depart Mercedes,” Wolff stated. “He is on the stage of a profession the place we belief one another, we’ve shaped the good bond amongst one another and we’ve no cause to doubt one another, regardless that this can be a troublesome spell.

“It is going to be so good once we come out of this valley of tears, and are available again to stable performances.

“Nonetheless, as a driver if he desires to win one other championship, he must ensure that he has the automobile. And if we can not exhibit that we’re in a position to give him a automobile within the subsequent couple of years, then he must look in every single place.

“I do not suppose he is doing it at that stage, however I’ll don’t have any grouch if that occurs in a yr or two.”

Wolff accepts Mercedes made incorrect choices with its automobile design this yr, however stated it went into the season believing it might nonetheless be aggressive.

“I believe we would actually tried exhausting to make it work, as a result of the information that we’ve extrapolated confirmed us that this works and we had been confirmed flawed, very merely,” Wolff stated. “You may see that the three quickest vehicles have an analogous idea of how they generate efficiency, and it is very totally different to ours.

“At a sure stage we got here to the conclusion, we acquired this flawed. Merely, we acquired it flawed.

“We do perceive, crystal clear, what we have achieved and why we ended up in a spot that does not deliver us efficiency. However understanding it from the, as an instance, scientific facet is not but … it is generally troublesome to discover a manner again into actual efficiency onto the automobile.

“However we’ve an enormous step forward to what we have seen after the preseason check, by way of our understanding.”