Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton emphasized on McLaren’s dominant performance in qualifying for the British Grand Prix served as a clear reminder to Mercedes of their struggle to maintain a good pace.
In an outstanding turn of events, Australian rookie Oscar Piastri grabbed the third spot on the grid, while British driver Lando Norris took an unexpected second. Their upgraded car in addition to the track’s drying conditions at Silverstone became the cause of this success.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell of Mercedes, who qualified in the sixth and seventh spots respectively, faced a challenging scenario at their home track. Rather than considering this as a setback, Hamilton viewed the situation differently.
According to the Briton, “It’s not a blow. It’s just a wake-up call for us all that McLaren have overtaken us and we need to do more.” He added by saying, “If you just put it (the McLaren) alongside a Red Bull, it looks very, very similar down the sides. It’s working. It is great.”
Lewis Hamilton has praised his former team McLaren after their sensational qualifying performance at Silverstone 👏🇬🇧#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/BnfO2hvOrZ
— Crash F1 (@CRASH_NET_F1) July 9, 2023
Mercedes is currently in second place in the standings, but Red Bull is 199 points ahead of them, an enormous margin. Furthermore, they are encountering difficulties in outperforming teams utilizing engines manufactured by the German company. With the significant improvements made by McLaren to their Mercedes-powered vehicle, they too have the capacity to cause panic on the track.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton’s expectations from the team
According to Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes is up against a number of challenges from Aston Martin as well as another team employing their power unit, which has undergone substantial modifications similar to the Red Bull RB19.
He discovered himself lagging behind Verstappen’s Red Bull RB19’s performance while driving the Mercedes W14 and grabbed the seventh starting position in the qualifying session on Saturday, one spot behind his teammate George Russell.
Remembering when Lewis Hamilton won at Silverstone on three wheels 😳
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 6, 2023
GOAT behaviour 🐐 pic.twitter.com/KaBzu30qYt
Despite the fact that there were several cars ahead of them, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff voiced hope for significant progress. The trust in the team’s capacity to achieve a podium finish at the Silverstone race has been echoed by Andrew Shovlin, Director of Trackside Engineering at Mercedes.
Attaining the desired podium position will prove to be a challenging task. Hamilton is facing competition from Russell, as well as Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., who occupy the positions ahead of him.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri start in second and third place, respectively, benefiting from the improved performance of their MCL60 car at Silverstone. The crucial question for Mercedes now revolves around the extent of the performance gap required to make successful overtakes.