Mercedes has taken aim at Sergio Perez after their double podium at the Spanish Grand Prix. The team was able to challenge for the podium spots on pure pace at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, with George Russell driving from P12 on the grid to P3. Russell managed to hold off Sergio Perez in the closing stages of the race, who pitted for a new set of Soft tyres in an attempt to limit his points-loss to title rival Max Verstappen. The Mexican has endured a spate of poor performances in qualifying, the worst being at Monaco Grand Prix where he crashed and had to start from the back of the grid. Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, believes there is "little difference from P2 to P10" when discussing the battle behind Verstappen. "We are thinking it will be more along the lines of some of the earlier races where we were definitely in the bunch with Ferrari, with Aston, and now Alpine look to have joined that group," said Shovlin, in a Mercedes Strategy Debrief video. "But it's great racing there. It will be good fun and we are certainly going to be fighting to find every little bit of performance we can because the way the grid stacks up now you can be P2 or you can be P10, and there are only a few tenths in it."
Shovlin: Canada to be more of a challenge
With Mercedes enjoying a good run of form after introducing their upgrade packages, they expect the Canadian Grand Prix to be a significant test. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is known for being a high tyre degradation circuit, which is one of the key areas Mercedes has struggled with since the start of the season. "We've had a few tough races recently and while we brought home a decent amount of points, it is so nice to get both of the drivers back on the podium after a bit of a break," said Shovlin. "We are looking forward to more exciting racing but certainly we are aware that Canada is likely to be a bigger challenge than the Sunday we just had in Barcelona."
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