First eight races without a podium, then suddenly two victories in a row: is Mercedes a real top team again after the “honest” success at Silverstone?
Just a few weeks ago, hardly anyone would have believed that Mercedes would win another race in this Formula 1 season, but Lewis Hamilton’s success at his home race in Silverstone was his second in a row. And while the first victory in Spielberg was a gift from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, Sunday’s success came under his own steam
“I think it was honest now,” said Head of Motorsport Toto Wolff on ORF after the victory. “We benefited from the crash in the last race. But today we controlled it in almost all conditions, and that shows that we are now part of the teams at the front.”
And it didn’t look like that at all just a few weeks ago. Up until the race in Canada, Mercedes had not even achieved a podium finish. But then came the big turnaround with pole and the podium in Montreal. And since then, Mercedes has always been on the podium.
“It’s incredible,” says Wolff. “We’ve now won two Grands Prix in a row, where five Grands Prix before we didn’t even have a podium. And now we’re rocking and rolling.”
Suddenly it has “clicked” at Mercedes, as the Austrian says. “Suddenly everything made sense that didn’t make sense before.”
In the meantime, development is working again “like in the good old days”, when Mercedes drove from victory to victory and title to title. “We find performance, we bring it to the car and it turns into lap time. And that hasn’t been the case for the last two years,” says Wolff.
Austria shows signs of good form
Neither the sensational Zeropod concept nor the complete turnaround from it had paid off in the past two and a half years. But suddenly Mercedes is back. Silverstone was proof for the team that the previous races were not positive slip-ups.
“That’s exactly how it feels,” emphasizes Wolff. “We weren’t that far off last week. Before the accident, it was maybe two tenths per lap or a bit more – and we haven’t been this close for a long time. And that was on a track that we haven’t really liked in the past. And that indicated to us that it could be much better. “
The team had not expected the knot to burst at Silverstone of all places, as they did not have a major update at the start. “It was just small things,” he confirms and announces major developments for Budapest and Spa, with which Mercedes wants to maintain its place at the top.
“On the other hand, we must not get carried away,” warns Wolff. “We had a win last week where we benefited from a collision, but today we had an honest win. We had real pace and you could see that George and Lewis were in the mix in almost all conditions. “
Hamilton: Victory was not bittersweet
One person who is likely to be in two minds about this is Lewis Hamilton. The Briton announced his departure from Mercedes before the season to join Ferrari, who once again struggled at Silverstone.
Asked whether it is a bittersweet victory for him in view of this situation, however, the seven-time world champion waves it away: “No. At the beginning of the year it looked like we wouldn’t even come close to winning because the car wasn’t even close to Red Bull level. And for me it would have been bittersweet if we hadn’t had something like today at the end of the season. “
“So I’m not leaving at a low point, but at a high point, and that was our goal,” he emphasizes.
“The car is not currently the fastest car in the field under any circumstances, but we are very close,” said Hamilton. “Hopefully, with the next upgrades, we can be in an even stronger position to really fight at the front more consistently. “
