'Clearly there is something that Hamilton does much better than everybody else'

The Mercedes team boss believes that people then forget about Hamilton's qualities. "There will always be people that will see it that way. I think the stronger you get, the more jealousy and negativity you will encounter," Wolff, who doesn't care about the criticism, told Motorsportweek.com. "It’s totally irrelevant what somebody else says, it’s irrelevant these things and what we think in the team, if we would listen to all the noise that’s being said out there, we would be more distracted from our job."

"I mean he’s clearly the outstanding driver," the team boss continued.

"A hundred pole positions and growing as a personality on and off track, clearly there is something that he does much better than everybody else. He wouldn’t be a seven-time world champion if that was not the case. But I also think that the combination of team and driver needs to function and it has functioned over the last seven years and continues to grow strong.”

Verstappen from P2

It's not going to be easy for Hamilton in Barcelona though. The driver has right behind him Max Verstappen, who is all too eager to take home the victory. Moreover, his teammate Valtteri Bottas will be hoping to challenge from third on the grid.