BARCELONA, June 15 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton is in the Formula One title reckoning and will be hard to stop now that he is a grand prix winner with Ferrari, according to his former Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
Sunday's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix saw the seven-time world champion take a first win for Ferrari since joining in January last year and left him second overall and 41 points behind Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
"I'd rather not fight with him for a title because I know what he's capable of. If he smells blood, he goes," Austrian Wolff told reporters when asked about the great who won six of his titles with Mercedes.
"I've seen it many years where suddenly the Lewis Hamilton train started to go and then it's very difficult to stop it."
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When Hamilton first arrived at Maranello, the Ferrari fans were abuzz with the possibility of him taking his record eighth title in red overalls. Some of that excitement fizzled as the results disappointed, but it is building up steam again now.
Hamilton has had three successive podiums - two seconds and now a first - and is clearly much happier in and out of the car.
His first win in nearly two years has vindicated the Briton's move, with Hamilton now a race winner for three of the sport's greatest teams - McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari - since his debut campaign in 2007.
The Briton struggled last season, openly describing himself as "useless" and even telling Ferrari to find someone else.
He had wondered if he still had what it takes and whether he would win again, but Sunday was all the proof he needed.
This season has been very different, with Hamilton galvanised by new rules and a willingness at Ferrari to make changes he has requested. Wolff suggested a new relationship with celebrity Kim Kardashian, who accompanied him in Monaco this month, was also playing a part.
"The dynamics in the team look to be good, between him and his race engineer (Carlo Santi). I saw him on the podium, on the telly. That face shows me that he's very happy," said the Austrian.
"Maybe the girlfriend helps...that you have a stable family life, and they seem to be getting on really well. I think it's all of those factors that put together the emotional, personal and professional perspective."
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur brushed aside any championship talk, however.
"I had probably the same comments two weeks ago that everything was a disaster," said the Frenchman. "And now we are speaking about the world championship. This is the worst approach that I could have.
"The approach is to go to Austria exactly with the same approach that I had in Barcelona, and not to think about the championship."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Jamie Freed)
