Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff, openly acknowledges that the W14 still possesses vulnerabilities, despite the team’s strong qualifying performance that showcased significant progress at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell demonstrated their skill and determination by conquering challenging wet conditions during FP3 and qualifying.
The Mercedes duo, initially qualifying fourth and fifth made a leap forward securing the third and fourth grid positions after taking advantage of Nico Hulkenberg’s penalty.
Although the Silver Arrows faced some setbacks in final practice, struggling with tire warm-up on the Intermediate compound, the team managed to bounce back and secure promising grid spots for the upcoming race.
“We can be satisfied. The two cars that put two consecutive laps in are in front, that is pretty normal,” said Wolff when speaking to RacingNews365.com.
“Lewis went straight in Q2… that would have put him fastest of the Inter runners, a very, very competitive lap time.
“So overall, I think the speed was there considering this is not a strong circuit for us and it was raining. That’s why I think it was ok.”
Despite initial expectations of a challenging weekend for Mercedes at the Canadian Grand Prix due to the perceived unsuitability of the upgraded W14 package for the Montreal circuit, the team managed to deliver a positive qualifying result.
Following their impressive double podium finish in Spain, the qualifying outcome serves as another encouraging sign of progress. However, Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff, cautions against complacency, emphasizing that the team is not completely out of the woods yet, as evident from the issues faced during FP3.
“I think we can be carefully optimistic. What we see is an upward trend,” he explained.
“But at the same time, you can see how vulnerable we are in FP3 where we didn’t have enough temperature in the tyres and we fell off a cliff. It was a good response though.”
Seven-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton also shared similar sentiments with his team boss, in his post-qualifying interview, he said: “Good result, I think most people probably underestimate just how hard it was out there for everybody.
“So it’s very tricky to keep it out on track, deliver when the time counts and yeah it was really hard to keep the car on track. It’s very slippery, really difficult to generate temperatures in the tyres.
Asked about the race pace as weather conditions improve for the Canadian Grand Prix race, Hamilton elaborated: “We should be in a better position, our race pace is often better. I’m hoping it is good tomorrow.
One can affirm the Silver Arrows have one of the strongest driver lineups on the grid, and by securing the second and third place on the grid, the Silver Arrows will be eyeing to secure another double podium.
