Mercedes is convinced it had the fastest car during Formula One’s triple header, even though that was not represented by points scored.
The French Grand Prix, Austrian Grand Prix and British Grand Prix were all held on consecutive weekends and amounted to F1’s first triple header. During that period Mercedes scored just 61 points — despite starting all three races from pole position — compared to 65 for rivals Red Bull and 98 for new championship leaders Ferrari.
The majority of Mercedes’ points deficit came from its double retirement in Austria and team boss Toto Wolff is confident his team had the fastest car during that period.
“We didn’t score as many points in the triple-header as we had hoped for,” he said. “A lot of that was down to our own mistakes. However, there is a silver lining to this — while we didn’t maximise on points, we did bring the quickest car to all three races.”
The British Grand Prix was round 10 of 21 this year and Wolff is sure his team will up its game in the second half of the year.
“Hockenheim will mark the halfway point of the 2018 season. We’ve had a decent first half – on the one hand, we’ve left points on the table and had to do damage limitation more often than we would have wanted. On the other hand, we still scored a good amount of points, both drivers have shown strong performances and we have a fast car.
“So there are many reasons why we’re looking forward to the second half of the 2018 season; we’re hungry, ambitious and want to kick on from here.”
This weekend’s German Grand Prix will also be Mercedes second home race in a row.
“Going to Hockenheim always feels like coming home; it’s only about a 90 minute drive from the Daimler headquarters in Stuttgart. While we had the great opportunity to race in front of many of our colleagues from Brackley and Brixworth in Silverstone, we’re now looking forward to welcoming the German members of the Mercedes family to the circuit and to holding high the three-pointed star on home turf.
“The track itself is quite interesting; it has a variety of corner speeds and will test every aspect of the car. We will fight hard to not only put on a good show for our friends and fans in Hockenheim, but also get the result that they will be hoping for.”