© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Mercedes’ Chief Technical Officer Mike Elliott says the team should be strong at the Austrian and British grands prix.
After Mercedes’ strong performance at the Canadian Grand Prix, the team’s CTO Mike Elliott explained they did not expect the W14 to perform as well as it did.
“It is really nice to be now racing at least for podiums, being able to show what we are capable of doing,” Elliott said Mercedes’ post-race debrief video.
“Hopefully we can turn that into more upgrades, more performance over the races to come and hopefully start fighting for some victories by the end of the season.”
The Briton then explained Mercedes’ big upgrade introduced in Monaco, has so far performed as intended.
“We are really pleased to say that it has done what we expected. It’s helped the car move forward and we are generally more competitive.
“We said before the weekend that Canada will be a more difficult circuit for us; it’s mainly low speed corners and straights, something that hasn’t been brilliant for us in the past.
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“So, to come out of this weekend to qualify with the cars fourth and fifth, promoted to third and fourth, and then to race in a strong way, beaten by Alonso, but for Lewis to race to third and in George’s case to show strong performance up until his crash, I think it is a good result for us and hopefully something we can take into the next few races.”
As for the next two races, in Austria and Great Britain, Elliott thinks the tracks should suit the car.
“I think where we have seen the car struggling is more in the low-speed corners, so if we start looking at circuits that have got more medium and high-speed content, we think we will do better there.
“So, Silverstone will be a good example of that. Austria shouldn’t be too bad for us either.
“So let’s hope we go well on both of those,” he concluded.
