Staff principal Toto Wolff expects Mercedes to make a much bigger step ahead on the subsequent two races in Hungary and Belgium on account of deliberate upgrades, following its win on the British Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton gained at Silverstone for a report ninth time final Sunday, having began second to teammate George Russell who was pressured to retire with a mechanical subject. The efficiency stage from Mercedes got here at a race the place it had launched largely circuit-specific developments, and Wolff says the subsequent spherical of upgrades was truly focused on the closing two races earlier than the summer time break.
“When you think about 5 races in the past we weren’t even contenders for the rostrum, which regarded just like the third 12 months of non-performance… after which it clicked,” Wolff stated. “Abruptly, all the pieces which didn’t make sense made sense. The event route, or the outcomes of the event instructions are like within the outdated days — we’re discovering efficiency and we’re placing it on the automotive. It interprets into lap time.
“That wasn’t the case for the final two years. And there’s extra to come back when it comes to efficiency. We’re bringing upgrades to Budapest and Spa.
“However on the opposite facet we mustn’t get carried away. We had the win benefitting from them tangling however we had an trustworthy win. We had the actual tempo. You might see George and Lewis within the lead and virtually underneath all situations we had been within the lead. We’re there.”
Wolff agrees with Russell’s evaluation that Mercedes has confirmed itself to be firmly within the combine with Pink Bull and McLaren with its Silverstone efficiency, fairly than being overly reliant on monitor situations.
“Yeah, it does really feel that manner. As a result of final weekend we weren’t far off, while you take a look at the hole we had earlier than they crashed. It was practically two-tenths a lap, a bit extra. And that’s the closest we’ve been for a very long time on a monitor we didn’t like a lot prior to now. That form of gave us hints that it might be getting a lot better.
“Truthfully, we didn’t assume it could be Silverstone as a result of there was barely something — we had been extra anticipating Budapest or Spa. However I agree with George, we justified what we do is correct in the meanwhile.”
