Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has suggested the Silver Arrows must look at developing Red Bull-style aerodynamics again after McLaren's shock two-three result in British Grand Prix qualifying. The Woking-based outfit introduced a major upgrade package to Lando Norris' MCL60 at the Austrian Grand Prix and instantly jumped ahead of Mercedes. With Oscar Piastri now benefitting from the package, McLaren usurped Mercedes and Ferrari to sit behind only Max Verstappen's Red Bull on the grid at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton labelled the performance as a "wake-up call" for the Brackley-based team, drawing comparisons between the McLaren and Red Bull sidepod designs.
Only the stopwatch counts
"I think what you see on the outside, which is only half the information, is that the car looks like a Red Bull," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365.com . "To be honest, it doesn't matter because only the stopwatch counts. This is what Lewis was referring to, I guess. "This kind of design seems to be a good direction but this is easier said than done." Suggesting similar iterations under development had failed to promise improvement for Mercedes, Wolff added: "Each of us had bodywork which looked like the Red Bull in the wind tunnel and it just didn't come up in performance. "You have got to leave no stone unturned and maybe look at it again, because another team just found another second in performance."
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