Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff believes McLaren's straight-line speed prevented Lewis Hamilton from bettering Lando Norris in the closing stages of the British Grand Prix. A late Safety Car promoted Hamilton to third and Mercedes opted to pit him for a used set of Softs, whilst McLaren switched Norris to the Hard tyre. Despite concerns over whether he could hold up the seven-time F1 champion as he battled for tyre temperature at the restart, Norris superbly denied Hamilton with a defensive masterclass through the middle sector to hold onto second. "The tyres went off but today, but they [McLaren] just had a better car," Wolff told Sky Sports when addressing why Hamilton could not overcome Norris. "We need to honestly say on the Hard tyre being able to hold us behind with the Soft it's just a straight-line speed deficiency." When asked where he thinks Mercedes' deficiencies are, Wolff replied "We're just lacking the straight-line speed at the moment, Silverstone particularly."
Wolff: Will be interesting to see at Budapest
Wolff expects a different challenge at the next race in Hungary, where cars are more reliant on mechanical grip instead of straight-line speed. But after seeing McLaren improve to a podium following a difficult start to the season, Wolff is confident Mercedes can close the gap. "It will be very interesting to see on the more twisty circuits Budapest," he said. "They [McLaren] made a big step ahead and that's good for us to see that this is possible to how quickly you can catch up so we've got to go for the Red Bulls."
Most read
