Mercedes expect Silverstone will be a “much better” track for their car this weekend after cooling problems ended their winning streak in Austria.
The heat and altitude of the Red Bull Ring contributed to Mercedes’ first defeat of 2019. Silverstone will bring a return to a lower and likely cooler track, but Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is keen to address the car’s weakness before F1 returns to hotter venues.“I’m really hoping for the typical English weather at Silverstone so we can gain a little bit of time to sort our problems out,” he joked after the Austrian Grand Prix.
“There is no alternative than to fix our problems for the coming hot races, Hockenheim and Budapest. There is no other option.”
Wolff suspects the advantage Ferrari gain from their power unit will also be lessened at the British Grand Prix.
“The power deployment maybe isn’t as much of a differentiator through the fast corners so I think Silverstone should be much more to our liking,” he said. “Maybe not as much as Paul Ricard Paul Ricard but much better than Austria.”
Points leader Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes’ lack of competitiveness was largely track-specific. “There are some circuits where it appears slightly shorter circuits where they [Ferrari] are really super quick on the straights,” he said.
“Our car should be good [at Silverstone], but I have to assume it’ll be close.”
Hamilton’s run of four consecutive home race wins was halted by Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari last year after Hamilton tangled with Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari on the first lap of the race.
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Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
8th July 2019, 8:43
I hope for ‘typical English weather’ too, but rain rather than grey and 15 degrees C.
When is the last time we had a proper, proper rain race, Brazil 2016?
joe pineapples
8th July 2019, 10:32
Yeah been hankering after a damp-wet race for some time. Won’t happen at Silverstone this year though (sunny spells, 21-22c).
Urvaksh (@thedoctor03)
8th July 2019, 10:57
Phew! Don’t want the rain affecting the Cricket World Cup final between India and England that day ;)
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
8th July 2019, 9:57
yay (says nobody).
bob (@riptide)
8th July 2019, 11:27
Yes. The last thing we want is the best team winning. That’s not what F1 is about!
James Neutron (@phillyspur)
8th July 2019, 22:51
We need trophies for everyone.
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
9th July 2019, 3:34
Merc have been doing this for years can’t believe people haven’t cut on. Whenever people start complaining about domination coincidentally their next race they lose some of their speed. Max win feels like it was gifted to him by merc and red bull found some hidden speed in maxs car. F1 is so rigged I’ve lost interest in it with drivers like Vettel and max who get gifted everything and overhyped
CHIKANO (@chikano)
9th July 2019, 7:00
@carlosmedrano
I am a Merc/Ham fan. And after watching the race I had a similar feeling TBH. The Mighty Merc all of a sudden can,t get on top of cooling issues while a Ferrari sticks it on pole and Max(fan of him too) lines up second. He bins the start and then magically VTEC kicks in and he storms through to win.
Seems too fairytale like after all the fans meltdown because of Merc dominance
anon
9th July 2019, 11:28
@carlosmedrano, what comes across as stranger still is the belief that it is somehow impossible that somebody else might have actually been able to win on their own merits.