Mercedes rebirth
Three podiums in the last two racesgrabbed second place in the Constructors’ standings and the sensation of having truly taken a significant step forward in terms of performance with the ‘baptism’ of version 2.0 of W14. There Mercedes is approaching the weekend of the Austrian GP full of good expectations after the double podium achieved by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in Spain and after the third place also achieved by the seven-time world champion two weeks ago in Montreal. The Canadian track was supposed to be a thorn in the side for the black-silver arrows and instead, net of Russell’s driving error, the response was decidedly encouraging.
At Wolff’s house
There is no doubt that thinking about victory, especially at Red Bull’s home track and at a track where Verstappen boasts four victories and seven podiums in 10 appearances, is premature. But Mercedes’ goal is above all to continue in the right direction of development, with a view to better preparing what will be next season’s car. Spielberg’s race also has a special sentimental value for the Brackley team principal, Toto Wolffwho is at home here, as he himself recalled when presenting the weekend.
“Austria is always a special weekend for me – acknowledged Wolff – because it’s my home race and I have good memories of this circuit, both with the team and in my early years of racing, and also when I was working as an instructor. We will also have the second Sprint of the season here, so it will be interesting to see the impact this will have on the weekend, in a more traditional circuit [rispetto a quanto era stato Baku]”. Wolff then recalled the good impressions provided by the W14 in Canadaassuming an easier adaptation of the car to the characteristics of the Austrian track.
Better than Canada
“The last race in Canada gave many positive results – Wolff stressed – although we failed to bring both cars to the checkered flag the podium was a major achievement and we have seen some encouraging signs from our upgraded package. We will now try to build on the good momentum we have built in the last two races and continue our positive trajectory with the car. This is a circuit where the W14 should perform better than in Canadabut we won’t take anything for granted. As always, we will work hard to maximize our performance and achieve important results”.
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