Google News Mercedes surprised with its speed on the last two races
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Technical director Mike Elliott says Mercedes ’speed in the last two races has surprised them as well and they didn’t expect them to be so fast compared to Red Bull which helped them take the lead in both championships.
After five consecutive wins for Red Bull from Monaco to the second race in Austria, Mercedes was under pressure from expectations at their home race at Silverstone, and the new aerodynamic package allowed Hamilton to achieve the best qualifying time.
The controversial clash between Hamilton and Verstappen allowed Hamilton to significantly reduce Verstappen’s lead in the drivers ’standings, and chaos in the first lap in Hungary led to severe damage to Verstappen’s car so the Dutchman finished only ninth while Hamilton was classified second.
That’s why Hamilton took the lead in the drivers ’standings with eight points more than Verstappen while Mercedes is 12 points ahead of Red Bull. “Of course, we’ve had two good results in the last two races,” Elliott said.
"Luck was definitely on our side and that's why we are in a good position in the championship." “But what really encouraged me was our speed in the last two races. Especially in the qualifiers in Budapest where we were first and second and with such an advantage [0.4 s ahead of Verstappen].
” "It's the strongest position we've been in all season."
Rear wing
Head of operations at the track Andrew Shovlin agrees that Mercedes ’form is a pleasant surprise, but he is also surprised by Red Bull’s choice of rear wing for the Hungaroring as the track usually uses the largest available rear wings while Red Bull opted for a slightly smaller wing.
"We've surprised ourselves. It is, of course, a nice surprise, but we are surprised that we had such an advantage with the pole position, ”added Shovlin. "Improvements at Silverstone have given us useful performance, we have a good balance." "We are usually concerned when we come to tracks that require maximum downforce because when we use our wing for maximum downforce they show up with another special wing for Monaco and for this track." "But this time they rejected him for Saturday.
It was never an option for us, to use any rear wing other than the largest. We don't know why they made that decision, but it could be that they don't have enough pressure on the front axle, so they had to use a smaller rear wing. "