Martin Brundle believes that Mercedes' current form is confusing to everyone, including themselves. The team seemed to endure mixed fortunes during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, with struggles during Friday's practice sessions followed by a stronger showing in qualifying. Lewis Hamilton went on to finish third in Sunday's race – marking his first podium since the season-opener in Bahrain – while teammate George Russell came home in fourth. "The Mercedes team are so confusing for everyone at the moment, including themselves," Brundle wrote in his column for Sky Sports . "On Friday Lewis declared the car was undriveable, which is indeed exactly how it looked, and in a Sky F1 interview he strongly intimated that it was now about making the best of a bad job for the rest of the long season. "Team boss Toto Wolff said similar things to me in an interview, having described the car as a 's***box' just a week earlier."
Brundle assesses what Mercedes' result means
As the team looked for performance gains in Montreal, Russell went for an unusual strategy in Saturday's qualifying, something that Brundle believes he might have regretted. "George Russell took a very bold gamble on slicks at the end of the final wet but drying qualifying session, which I suspect he wouldn't do again," the former F1 driver said. "I admire his confidence, but two or three parts of the track were still 10 minutes away from being ready." Whilst the Silver Arrows cars went on to finish the race in third and fourth, Brundle thinks that this may have been lower had the circumstances been slightly different. "In the race, both Mercs were flying along almost on the leading pace," he commented. "To be realistic, if Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez had had normal qualifying and race performances, and had we not had two Virtual and then one actual Safety Car, it would likely have been a solid fifth and sixth for the Merc boys." Despite this, Brundle is hopeful for Mercedes' prospects at the upcoming British Grand Prix. "Once again there does appear to be a good car under that shrink-wrapped bodywork, and they fancy their chances at Silverstone which is next up," Brundle added.
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