McLaren’s performance in qualifying is a “wake-up call” for Mercedes, said Lewis Hamilton, after their rivals produced the surprise of qualifying by taking second and third on the grid.
The Mercedes pair will start the British Grand Prix from sixth and seventh on the grid. The McLaren drivers qualified second and third, beaten only by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.Hamilton said the result was “not a blow” for Mercedes but “is a wake-up call for us – others have overtaken us and we need to do more.”
McLaren brought a significant upgrade package for its MCL60 at the last race, and further parts this weekend. Hamilton said he’s “not surprised” the team has made significant progress as they’ve brought their car closer in design to Red Bull’s RB19.
“If you look at the car it makes sense,” said Hamilton. “I’m really happy for them. They’ve had such a bad run for so long, so to be back up there is really, really great to see.
“If you just put it alongside a Red Bull, it looks very, very similar down the sides and it’s working. It’s great and now we have another team up in the mix, which is what we want to see in this sport.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the gain McLaren has made will lead teams to look more closely at emulating Red Bull’s design.
“I think from what you see from the outside, which is obviously only half the information, is that the car looks like a Red Bull,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “And as a matter of fact, to be honest, it doesn’t matter because only the stopwatch counts. And this is what I guess Lewis was referring to.
“This kind of design seems to be a good direction, but this is easier said than done. I think each of us [teams] had bodywork that looked like the Red Bull in the [wind] tunnel and it didn’t come up in performance so you’ve got to leave no stone unturned and maybe look at it again, because another team just found a second in performance.”
However he believes Mercedes had the potential to qualify higher than they did this weekend. “I think we qualified behind the two of them [McLarens] and that’s the reality. When you look at the gaps, we’re talking about thousandths up and down.
“Today probably the racing god was against us because it could have been but ‘could have’ been doesn’t count in this sport. It is what it is, and we just have to keep the pace up in development and in our learning and understanding.”
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2023 British Grand Prix
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- Albon ‘surprised’ to be quicker than Alonso at end of British GP
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- McLaren now “finding performance quicker” after emulating Red Bull’s design
Edvaldo
8th July 2023, 18:57
Aston Martin on the other hand, is losing steam fast.
Or Alonso could have had a bad lap. With Stroll on the other car, we’ll never know.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
8th July 2023, 20:39
Stroll was just covering off Perez ;-)
Alex
8th July 2023, 18:57
It’s a shame for Mercedes that they were overtaken, but McLaren’s success should aso give them hope for their own upgrades.
They said at the start of the season that they recognised their direction was wrong, and implied they were going to move closer to Red Bull. McLaren and Aston both show that can lead to quick gains: that must be doubly true with Mercedes’ budget.
It’s an easy bet that there’ll be more competition in the second half of this season than there was in the first.
Emma
8th July 2023, 19:06
Mercedes has the same budget as everyone else, right?
Alex
8th July 2023, 19:32
No.
All teams have the same *cap* for the capped activities – but not every team spends up to the cap (it was said last year that about 6 were maxing it out; the Haas boss reckons some teams are about $30m or 20% off it); and also, there are lots of non-capped activities that still let the richer teams spend more.
I’m glad we have the cost caps, as it brings the teams closer together; but Mercedes / Red Bull / Ferrari still have more resources than McLaren, whether that’s salaries, buildings, equipment, or annual budget.
Pete
8th July 2023, 19:54
I’m pretty sure they’re all spending up to the cap now but as you say, that’s ignoring what equipment they already have. You could give the smaller teams double the budget you give to Red Bull or Mercedes and they still wouldn’t beat them.
Lewisham Milton
8th July 2023, 19:14
Bring back chrome (properly) and Lewis!
Qeki (@qeki)
8th July 2023, 19:22
While I admire their work and upgrades something doesn’t add up. They have the drivers to do these kinds of things but as with Oscar from P18 or something to P3 in one week. I don’t buy it. Whatever it is if they keep performing like this for the rest of the season its a thing to be looked at more closely.
Qeki (@qeki)
8th July 2023, 19:24
Imagine in the next race Bottas and Zhou jumping up to challenge Verstappen..
miciek (@micio)
8th July 2023, 19:31
@qeki It’s the weather. They will be far behind tomorrow.
Roadney (@roadney)
8th July 2023, 20:02
Oscar didn’t have the upgrades last week, he was running the old spec.
MichaelN
8th July 2023, 21:54
Norris was already ahead of everyone except Leclerc and the Red Bulls in Austria, where he was the sole McLaren running the latest parts. Piastri was 16th in the race, but he had his own issues (like an unscheduled stop after bumping into another car) and was running the old spec.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
8th July 2023, 23:20
I’m not sure what is suspicious about going from P18 to P3 in just a week or so. There were lots of lap times deleted at the Austrian GP Qualifying, and obviously Oscar put in several very good times, so maybe he had posted “better” lap times which were later deemed to be unacceptable.
cdfemke (@cdfemke)
8th July 2023, 20:05
Wolf: start driving the car then
MadMax (@madmax)
8th July 2023, 23:01
useless comment
melanos
8th July 2023, 20:18
You do not need to do more. You need to do better. Which you cannot.
MadMax (@madmax)
8th July 2023, 22:56
Who are you talking to?
melanos
9th July 2023, 11:17
MadMax (@madmax)
9th July 2023, 12:42
And you really think, drivers are reading your comments here? lol
David West
8th July 2023, 20:27
Be interesting to see race pace.
Dan
8th July 2023, 23:43
THIS is your wake-up call?
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
9th July 2023, 5:05
Maybe try beating your teammate first
Ajaxn
9th July 2023, 12:42
With the gap measured in thousandths, that chassis upgrade that Hamilton called for last season could be the difference between setting the pace and settling for also-rans.
I doubt Hamilton is ‘feeling’ the car any better now, than when he first complained about being disconnected from the car. His connectedness to the car is all the difference between driving the car on its limits, and not having that confidence in the car.