- Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the team will bring a significant upgrades
- Lewis Hamilton finished third in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal last weekend
- Red Bull took the win while Aston Martin took second pole position in this race
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the team will bring significant upgrades to the British Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton ascends in grid standings.
Lewis Hamilton finished third in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal last weekend after a lengthy duel with Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.
Red Bull took the win while Aston Martin took a second podium finish in this race. Loss of traction while outing low-speed corners made Mercedes lose to Red Bull and Aston Martin.
He called on Mercedes engineers to work on this ahead of the next week’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Wolff in response to this said that Mercedes has a bigger upgrade coming ahead of the Silverstone circuit in the British Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton. Photo/Sky Sports
“We’re bringing a larger one to Silverstone, then we should have another one before shutdown. It’s just that the learnings have accelerated a lot since we changed some of them conception architecture, and there should be decent steps coming in the next four races,” Sky Sports reports.
He adds that Mercedes did not expect to perform so well at the Canadian Grand Prix but it did which is encouraging for the team.
“For us we didn’t expect to perform here in Canada because how the car DNA is at the moment is more for the high-speed corners, so it’s encouraging not be not so far away, but one must not forget that Max is cruising in the front,” said Wolff.
Wolff conceded that Mercedes is not competing for victory this season adding that Red Bull is leading by a large margin that’s hard for Mercedes to bridge.
However, the recent changes Mercedes made to its W14 saw Hamilton take second and third pole positions on the grid in the last three races of the season.
Before this, Mercedes only managed fifth and sixth podium finishes since the season started.
Part of the upgrades include a front suspension, cooling system, a new floor and sidepod as performance enhancements.
Still, the cornering traction is still missing and it is a huge component of the W14 performance.
Lewis Hamilton. Photo/F1
Alonso overtook Hamilton fast after the safety car restart in the Canadian Grand Prix because he had more traction coming out of the Turn 10 hairpin, which led to the longest straight on the track.
Occasionally, Hamilton seemed to be launching an attack of his own to retake Alonso, but he couldn’t approach the old teammate’s DRS.
Mercedes’ traction, which Wolff claims they can improve, will be less of an issue in Austria and at Silverstone now once the second phase of upgrades come into play.
Wolff admits that traction was a problem the W14 struggled with since the start of the season. While they have a strong lead, Red Bull is far ahead this season and the low-speed cornering is affecting traction and stability.
The Mercedes boss believes the engineering team can resolve the issue, although the mechanical and aerodynamic issues are interwoven and cannot be resolved separately.
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