Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the team has banished its correlation woes with recent upgrades inspiring a “galactical” pace at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The German marque has made gradual inroads since enduring a challenging start to the season with a revamped W15 car that proved unpredictable and inconsistent.
Having emerged as the pacesetting team during final practice in Montreal, George Russell delivered on that potential to pip Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pole position.
However, Russell lamented several mistakes in the race as he slipped to third spot, while Lewis Hamilton criticised his drive despite recovering from seventh to fourth.
But while both drivers suspected Mercedes retained the inherent pace to win, Wolff claims the side should be satisfied that it is now back in the hunt at the sharp end.
“I think when you finish third and fourth, from where we have been coming from, then it is a positive race,” Wolff told the Independent.
“Third and fourth is so much better than we had previously in the last few races, so that is good, but I think both drivers saw that there was more up for grabs.
“We could have gained a position or two, and that is why there is a kind of negative sentiment.
“But if you would have given them third and fourth before the weekend, they probably would have taken it.”
Hamilton seized the headlines in FP3 when he wound up over three-tenths clear, but Wolff was as much in awe with the long run that he managed to string together.
“I mean in FP3, Lewis put up a lap that was out of this world, and then his long run was stratospheric, galactical,” he assessed.
However, the Briton was left bemused as he was unable to translate that rapid speed when it mattered as he qualified in seventh, 0.280s behind team-mate Russell.
With Russell also confused that he didn’t improve on new Softs compared to scrubbed rubber on his final Q3 run, Wolff admitted Mercedes has things to investigate.
“There was a lot of pace but in qualifying, we seem to be very strong at the beginning and then lose a little bit of performance,” he explained.
“Maybe we could have optimised it at the end, but the car was very quick.”
Mercedes introduced an updated front wing in Monaco which appears to have resolved the balance struggles the team was combating between high and low speed.
Wolff has suggested that Mercedes will be introducing more upgrades at the next round in Spain, where he hopes a more conventional track will validate its progress.
“Since Imola we have taken the right steps and put parts on the car that [worked] and that is something we have struggled with in the last couple of years,” he added.
“Directionally we seem to be heading forward. We have new parts coming in Barcelona so I hope we can continue this positive trajectory.
“We have brought so many new parts that have contributed milliseconds to more performance. That was a huge effort from the factory.
“I think the wheel has started to get some real motion now.
“Bit by bit we have added more performance. Another step in Barcelona as we will see it on the stopwatch.
“Hopefully the next few races when there is a track you can overtake, it will be exciting.”
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