Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton — Photo: © LAT Images

British Grand Prix

Wolff ENCOURAGED by McLaren success despite Mercedes being beaten

The Mercedes team principal is ready to fight for championship after encouraging McLaren performance

Lauren Sneath

Sunday 9 July 2023 21:42

Toto Wolff has said that Mercedes now have to ‘go for the Red Bulls’ as McLaren’s upgrades proved to the Mercedes team principal that teams can quickly catch up to those in the lead.

McLaren’s improved cars shone at the British Grand Prix, with Lando Norris holding off Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton to take P2.

Oscar Piastri also kept George Russell at bay, taking P4 ahead of the Mercedes driver’s P5.

Wolff: McLaren made a big step ahead

Wolff said Mercedes ‘performed well compared to qualifying’ but acknowledged that McLaren ‘had the better car’.

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He told Ted Kravitz for Sky Sports F1: “Who knows how close we could have been to Max. We’re just lacking the straight-line speed at the moment.

“Here at Silverstone particularly. It was close, we’ve performed well compared to qualifying, so it’s a solid day.

“Today they [McLaren] had the better car. Being able to hold us behind with the soft, it’s just the aero efficiency or let’s say straight-line speed."

Lando Norris beat Lewis Hamilton to P2 at the British Grand Prix

He added: “It will be very interesting to see on the more twisty circuits, Budapest.

“In any case, they made a big step ahead and that’s good for us to see that this is possible, how quickly you can catch up. So, we’ve got to go for the Red Bulls.”