Physicists are trying to understand the world from a mathematical perspective. Which does work, but in the real world everything has a constrain.
It's like, imagine you have your back against a solid wall. We have mathematical formulas to calculate how we move. And within these formulas, we could theoretically move freely across space. That means that according to these formulas, one could go backwards through the wall.
But in the real world this will never happen. I heard it could be possible according to quantum physics, but the chance is so small it simply won't happen no matter how many times you try to go through it.
The warp drive thing is kinda the same thing. We have an understanding of physics that allows us to travel back in time. That is, in the theory. By using those formulas I mentioned. In practice, this would never happen, as there would be a boundary to it coming from somewhere else.
This is probably what Hawkins was talking about when he himself said that it was impossible, for the same reason. There are boundaries in this world. Otherwise, everything would be pretty much possible.