Mercedes was extremely satisfied with third place in the Formula 1 race in Canada. Although they lost out in a direct duel against Fernando Alonso, the Silver Arrows are happy that they were able to finish on the podium in Montreal: “That’s very encouraging for a track where we thought we wouldn’t be good “, says motorsport director Toto Wolff.
Because Canada was basically the first endurance test for the new upgrade package. Although the package had already been planned for Imola, the race in Emilia-Romagna had fallen victim to the storm. The Monaco race that followed is not exactly representative and it was no great surprise that Mercedes were competitive at Barcelona.
But Canada had given the team a headache: “That was the track where we were most concerned that the car wasn’t fast,” Wolff told Sky. Because: “There are mainly slow corners and straights here, and that wasn’t particularly good for us in the past,” says Technology Director Mike Elliott.
“At the beginning of the year we would have been driven to the ground on such a route,” Wolff believes. But with the new package you finished fourth and fifth in qualifying and if George Russell hadn’t crashed into a wall you would probably have finished third and fourth in the race, he says.
Conclusion: “We’re in, maybe a tenth slower than Alonso, who brought a mega update, and not that far away from Max,” says Wolff, who speaks of a “huge step forward”.
Finally the correlation is correct
Because what Mercedes is particularly pleased about with the new package: “Now what the car does correlates with what we also measure in the simulations,” says Wolff to ‘ServusTV’. “And it didn’t do that for a year and a half.”
“We’re seeing good performance gains that are noticeable in the wind tunnel. We’re getting a better understanding of what the car needs to be fast. What the set-ups have to look like. So in general the steps are getting bigger now. I think we’re making good ones progress.”
In Canada, however, some problems were still evident. Above all, Lewis Hamilton complained about the stability of his rear, where the competition and above all the Red Bull was significantly stronger and gained a lot of time.
That was one of the big problems with the car last year. “We have a strong front axle, but the rear is still lagging behind,” said Wolff after the race. “It’s not good enough yet, and we saw that today. There’s still a lack of traction stability, especially out of the slow corners.”
But the Austrian already has the right slogan ready: “The squirrel feeds itself with difficulty,” he says.
Verstappen still too far away
And there’s another fact that makes Mercedes look a little humbly at its own performance: And that’s called Max Verstappen. “We mustn’t forget that Max is cruising up there at the top,” emphasizes the head of motorsport. “I don’t think he’s completely cruising, but he still has an easier game up there. We still have to catch up.”
The gap between race winner Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso was 9.5 seconds. Apart from the Australian Grand Prix, which ended behind the safety car, this is Red Bull’s smallest lead this year – in all other races it was always at least 20 seconds.
“We definitely need to find some more pace before we can worry Max,” notes Andrew Shovlin, lead race engineer.
Wolff would agree with that, because when asked whether Verstappen could be put under at least a little pressure for the first time, he dismisses it: “The gap is still too big to really think that Max would be under pressure. I don’t know , how much it was in this race, but we were still far away.”
Hamilton not frustrated
This is the situation that Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have had to face for the past year and a half. The Brit is chasing the long-awaited eighth world title and currently has no chance against Red Bull and Verstappen.
But Hamilton himself emphasizes that it’s not frustrating for him – if it ever was. “You know what situation you’re in and there’s nothing I can do about their fantastic performance,” he says.
“It’s likely they’ll win every race this year except Aston Martin and we put a lot more performance on the car or they won’t finish,” said the Briton. “It’s not easy to find that much performance under these regulations, but it’s not frustrating.”
“I’m just happy that I can get involved at the front again and I hope that at some point it will be more balanced again so that we can have the good races we have in 2021,” says Hamilton. “If the three of us could have a super close fight that would be cool.”
Next tracks will be better than Canada
At least Mercedes believes that the Montreal result bodes well for the future: “If we look at the upcoming circuits, we should have a car that can regularly fight for the top three places,” Shovlin said optimistic.
“Now there are circuits that have more medium and fast corners. We think we should be better there,” agrees Elliott. “Silverstone will be a good example and things shouldn’t look so bad for us in Austria either.”
Toto Wolff is also looking forward to that: “It should be much better there than in the slow corners here in Montreal,” he says, but also warns: “We’ve miscalculated so many times that something that should have been really bad was okay – and vice versa.”
“It’s just about always learning. It’s not about third or fourth places for me either,” said the Austrian. “It’s really a learning curve to get better and then eventually go for the win.”
Upgrades should also help with this, a big one of which should come at Silverstone and another one before the summer break. “In the next four races we should make some decent steps.”