Mercedes 'managing expectations' ahead of Lewis Hamilton homecoming

Hamilton in Canada — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

Mercedes 'managing expectations' ahead of Hamilton homecoming

Hamilton scored his second podium of the year in Canada

Sam Hall

Wednesday 22 June 2022 05:00

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Toto Wolff feels Mercedes must now manage expectations ahead of the British Grand Prix despite its strong showing in Canada where Lewis Hamilton finally returned to the podium.

Hamilton had not finished in the top three in seven races since the season opener in Bahrain as Mercedes has struggled with its W13.

But at a circuit with a smoother track surface than either Monaco or Azerbaijan, and where Hamilton had scored victory on seven previous occasions, the seven-time champion produced a fine drive to take third ahead of team-mate George Russell.

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The result, coupled with the lack of bouncing during Sunday's race has already raised expectations of another strong performance, potentially even victory for Hamilton at his home race on July 3.

Asked if Mercedes can build momentum off the back of the Canadian result, Wolff said: "I would hope so.

"Silverstone was good to us in the past and the circuit is smoother than the last three, but it's not Barcelona.

"Now, we should manage our own expectations and just grind away, look at the data and come up with some sensible solutions, not only for Silverstone but going forward."

Mercedes development has a "clear direction"

Mercedes has now finished third and fourth at each of the last two races, with the positions of the two drivers reversed in Baku where Russell was third.

But unlike in Azerbaijan, the Canadian result was scored on merit and did not come through the misfortune of others.

Asked where Mercedes can continue to add performance, Wolff explained: "We just need to put more load in the car, more downforce, and equally to do that with a car that is not as low on the ground as we have expected.

"It is a clear direction now, you can see the cars are going higher and this is where we need to find the performance."