Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the team still loses performance in fast lap and race pace, but stressed the total focus on getting back to the top of the podium later this year
Mercedes achieved its best result of the season at the French GP with Lewis Hamilton's second place and George Russell's third, but they know that, in terms of performance, there is still a big difference to be sought on the track. Toto Wolff even acknowledged that Max Verstappen had no trouble stopping any attempt to approach the seven-time champion during the race last Sunday.
In Paul Ricard, the Red Bull driver crossed the finish line 10s5 ahead of Hamilton. "I believe he [Hamilton] was able to stabilize the gap at 5s or 6s in the first stint, but you have to be honest and say that when they were racing each other in the second stint, Max just held the advantage on the track," Wolff analyzed.
"From my glass-half-empty perspective, there's still a lot of lap time to be achieved. I think with each lap we collect more data and understand a little bit more, so we're able to put the little pieces of the puzzle together. It's a difficult process sometimes," he added.
Since Barcelona, Mercedes has been making small steps in the development of the W13, and the most notable one is the considerable decrease in quicks. But Wolff explained that the car still falters in other areas, and this ends up compromising lap times on a whole.
"It's not simply one thing: we have performance loss on a single lap and performance loss in the early stages of the stint," the Austrian stated. "There's more to understand, it's not a miracle solution, but it's a few topics that go towards our performance. Second and third is a good result, but we work tirelessly to win, and there is still a gap [to be closed]," he concluded.
Formula One returns to the track next weekend in Hungary, which will host the 13th round of the 2022 World Championship. GRANDE PRÊMIO will follow all track activities from Friday's free practice sessions LIVE and IN REAL TIME.