Toto Wolff says Mercedes will be looking to capitalize on its current momentum before F1’s summer break by introducing further upgrades to its W15 at upcoming races in Hungary and Belgium.
After a difficult start to its 2024 campaign, Mercedes has shown a remarkable turnaround in fortunes in the last few races thanks to its development efforts.
In Austria, George Russell secured the team's first win since 2022, an achievement followed by Lewis Hamilton's emotional triumph last weekend at his home race at Silverstone, a victory that put an end to the seven-time world champion’s own two-and-a-half-year winless streak.
Mercedes’ resounding success is the culmination of an aggressive development push by the Brackley squad in recent months.
But the team’s relentless pursuit of performance is set to continue with more advancements in the immediate. pipeline
“There’s more to come in terms of performance,” Wolff said at Silverstone. “We're bringing updates to Budapest and Spa.
"We mustn't get carried away, we had a win last week benefiting from [Verstappen and Norris] tangling, but today we have an honest win.
"We had the real pace, you could see George and Lewis in the lead... almost under all conditions we were there.”
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Mercedes was confronted earlier this year with correlations issues regarding its early aero package whereby its track data did not align with its simulation and wind-tunnel numbers.
However, Wolff says developments have been successful in addressing these underlying problems, leaving the team feeling encouraged.
"When you consider that five races ago we weren't even a contender for the podium, which looked like the third year of non-performance, then it clicked," explained the Austrian.
"Suddenly everything that didn't make sense made sense. And the results of the development directions are back like in the old days. We are finding performance, we're putting it on the car, and it translates into lap time.
"That wasn't the case for the last two years. We couldn't give the drivers a car that enabled them to go for the victories.
"And to make Lewis win the British Grand Prix again in his last race for Mercedes here is almost like a little fairytale, we couldn't have scripted it better.
"We justified that what we do is right at the moment.”
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Asked if Mercedes is finally back at the sharp end of the grid, Wolff replied: “Yeah, it does feel that way, because last weekend we were far off, when you look at the gap we had before they crashed.
“It was nearly two-tenths a lap, a bit more. That’s the closest we’ve been for a long time on a track we didn’t like so much in the past. That kind of gave us hints that it could be getting much better.
“Honestly, we didn’t think it would be Silverstone because with more stuff we were putting on the car we were more expecting Budapest or Spa. But I agree with George, we justified what we do is right at the moment."
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