Mercedes issue ‘momentum’ warning as key weaknesses erased

Mercedes feels its recent run of results is beyond expectations after failing to understand a car early in the current F1 season that had "plenty of weaknesses".

Entering the third year of the ground-effect aerodynamic regulations, Mercedes continued to be at a loss, with its W15s off the pace, leaving Lewis Hamilton and George Russell fighting for the minor points.

But the introduction of a crucial upgrade at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, and the understanding that stemmed from that and which has allowed the team to continue to develop, has been instrumental in an about-turn in results.

Russell's third place in Canada, which arguably should have been a victory, has sparked a run of six consecutive races with podium finishes.

Remarkably, Mercedes has won three of the last four grands prix, and clearly has the wind in its sails going into the second 'half' of the season post-summer break.

Summarising the first 14 races that culminated in victory in Belgium on Sunday, with the team denied a one-two after Russell was disqualified due to his car being underweight, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "The main thing is the progress.

"Where we were in the early races in Bahrain and in Jeddah, it was difficult to look at the car and understand what it was you had to do to make it quick.

"We could see it had certain strengths, but it also had plenty of weaknesses. The team has responded brilliantly to that challenge.

"We know where we want to get to in terms of performance level. We knew that we wanted to be winning races, and we set ourselves a target of by the end of the season, we wanted to be qualifying on pole and winning races.

"We have now had three wins in the last four races. We have had six podiums on the trot. That has perhaps been more than we had expected at that point.

"We are really enjoying the racing now. We are enjoying the challenge. It feels like the team has a bit of momentum behind it, and we are hoping that we can carry that into the final bit of the season, continue to develop and hopefully continue to win some races."