Team principal Toto Wolff is hopeful that Mercedes will make further progress in the next two races in Hungary and Belgium following their victory at the British Grand Prix and the planned upgrades.
Lewis Hamilton claimed a record ninth win at Silverstone on Sunday, starting second behind teammate George Russell, who had to retire with mechanical issues. Mercedes’ performance levels have been largely reflected in the races where they have introduced circuit-specific developments, and Wolff says the next round of upgrades are actually aimed at the last two races before the summer break.
“Five races ago we weren’t even podium contenders, it looked like a third-year underachiever… and then we realized,” Wolff said. “Suddenly, everything that didn’t make sense made sense. The development direction, or the result of the development direction, is the same as before. We look for performance and apply it to the car. That translates into lap times.
“That hasn’t been the case for the last two years. And there’s more to come in terms of performance. We’re giving upgrades to Budapest and Spa.
“But on the other side, we shouldn’t get too excited. We won. [with Russell in Austria] profit from them [Max Verstappen and Lando Norris] It’s tangled though [at Silverstone] We won honestly. We had a real pace. You could see George and Louis were in the lead and we were in the lead in almost every condition. We are there.”
Wolff agrees with Russell’s assessment that Mercedes are not overly reliant on track conditions and that their performance at Silverstone has given them a solid foundation to compete with Red Bull and McLaren.
“Yeah, I feel that way. Because last weekend, [in Austria] If you look at the gap we had before they crashed, we weren’t that far off. Almost two-tenths a lap, a little more. And that was the closest we’ve been in a long time at a track that we haven’t liked that much in the past. That gave us a hint that we could be a lot better.
“To be honest, I didn’t think it would be Silverstone. There was nothing there. [new on the car] — We were expecting more from Budapest or Spa. But I agree with George. We justified what we were doing right now.”
