F1 | Mercedes: a new fund is coming for the Spanish GP

Last weekend, in Montreal, the German manufacturer achieved its most competitive weekend this season, with George Russell taking pole position and third place in the race, just ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

But the result was probably not what the team could have hoped for, given that the speed of its W15 was very high at several points during the weekend.

The new front wing introduced by Mercedes to complete a recent update appears to have transformed the car’s balance characteristics, suggesting that the team has finally begun to understand the secrets of the current ground-effect machine.

With further developments expected, including a new fund for the next race in Spain, team principal Toto Wolff admitted that his team is finally moving away from the difficulties encountered in the past, when updates did not deliver the desired results.

“I think that from Imola onwards we have taken the right steps and have fitted parts to the car that work, which has put us in difficulty in the last two years,” he said.

“Now it seems like we are increasing the performance every weekend and we also have new things coming, new parts in Barcelona that should help us. So I very much hope that we can continue this positive trajectory.”

While the focus of Mercedes’ breakthrough has been on the new front wing philosophy, Wolff says the improvements made to the car are much more important.

Progress has also been aided by a number of changes and a better understanding of flow structures, which are helping to unlock the car’s potential.

“Sometimes, when you introduce a very visible part like the bodywork or the front wing, we talk about what changed the performance,” he said. “But the truth is that in the last three races we have introduced a lot of new parts, visible and invisible to the eye, which contributed to improving performance”.

“I think this is the moment where these marginal gains have a positive effect. It was a huge effort on the part of the factory, so I think the wheels have really started to move.”

Russell’s pace at times in the Canadian GP put him on par with Red Bull and McLaren, but a couple of mistakes proved costly in trying to challenge for victory.

Although there was a sense of disappointment with the final result, with both Mercedes drivers unhappy with their performances, Wolff said the negative feelings were actually a sign of how well the team had done.

“I think when you get to third and fourth where we finished, then it’s a positive race,” he said. “Third and fourth is much better than what we have done previously in the last few races. So that’s positive.”

“But I think both drivers saw that there was more, because we could have gained one or two positions, and that’s why some kind of negative feeling prevails. But if we had given them third and fourth place before the weekend, they probably would have caught him.”

When asked after the race if he thought Mercedes had a car capable of winning, Wolff replied: “Maybe we dreamed about it for a few minutes, but in reality probably not.”