Hungary’s pace consolidates Mercedes’ Silverstone upgrades

After Mercedes was clearly beaten by Red Bull at the two events in Austria, Mercedes tried to reduce the pace gap on its title rivals by presenting its latest updates to the W12 car at the British Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton was the top qualifying over the weekend before winning Sunday’s race and recovering from a 10-second time penalty for his collision with Max Verstappen, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas also finished on the podium.

Red Bull had been expected to strike back in Hungary as the layout of the track seemed to play on the high downforce of the RB16B car.

But Mercedes managed to secure its second lockout in the front row of the season when Hamilton led Bottas to a 2-1 in qualifying and Red Bull beat pole by four tenths of a second.

Mercedes F1 boss Wolff said the performance in Hungary demonstrates the progress made with the Silverstone update and how it lived up to the team’s expectations.

“I think the increase in the pure output figures wasn’t huge,” said Wolff. “But the effects on the car’s performance have been good and positive.

“The correlation was spot on and I think we learned a little more about how the car performs in setup too.

“It’s great to see that performance consolidate here in Hungary.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Mercedes are entering the race on Sunday to turn the lockout from the front row into a result that could bring them back to the top of both championships for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton is eight points behind Verstappen at the top of the drivers ‘championship, while Mercedes is four points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

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The teams decided on different strategies in the race. Hamilton and Bottas will start on the more durable medium compound tire, while Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez will take softs for the first stint.

“I think we have a disadvantage off the line, so we have to be smart at the beginning and perform well,” said Wolff.

“If we are ahead with two cars, we have more strategy variance to play. But if it’s a two-stop race, it doesn’t make much difference whether you start on the soft or the medium starters.

“They have two drivers who are right there too, so having Lewis and Valtteri in the top four is not an advantage as they also have two.

“There are many ingredients for tomorrow’s great entertainment.”