Mercedes wants to 'put things right' for Lewis Hamilton at British GP
Toto Wolff says Mercedes is determined to return to its usual "high standards of performance and reliability" at the British Grand Prix after seeing Lewis Hamilton's chances hampered by car issues at the last two races.
Mercedes lost the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Hamilton was forced into an unscheduled pit stop to fix his headrest, which had come loose during a red-flag stoppage. At the following race in Austria, the team was fored to change a gearbox on the No.44 car, relegating Hamilton five places down the grid.
Though Bottas finished second in Baku and won in Austria, the setbacks for Hamilton meant he finished off the podium on both occasions and lost ground to Sebastian Vettel in the championship fight. Wolff says the team feels like it owes its drivers a clean weekend at Silverstone.
"From the team's perspective, we come to Silverstone with a feeling of unfinished business and needing to put things right, even though we took the win in Austria. In both Baku and Spielberg, we left points on the table that were there for the taking because of car problems that had nothing to do with our drivers. We are determined to make sure that doesn't happen in Silverstone."
Since winning the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton has dropped 20 points behind main championship rival Vettel. Wolff has praised the way Hamilton handled his setbacks at the last two races and is certain the three-time world champion will deliver a strong result without more car trouble.
"The entire weekend is like a celebration of motorsport in the UK and of course also a celebration of the driver who is in my view the country's greatest ever F1 talent, Lewis. He enjoys a very special relationship with the fans at Silverstone and has a fantastic record there in recent years.
"The determination for Lewis to fight back with a strong performance this weekend needs no more explanation. Things could have been a lot worse at the last two races -- but his performance and pace deserved a lot better. He has handled the setbacks with the calmness and maturity we have come to expect from him. Lewis is doing the job in a pretty perfect way right now and if he keeps doing that, the results will follow."
Source: http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/19971876/mercedes-wants-put-things-right-lewis-hamilton-british-gp
Mercedes lost the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Hamilton was forced into an unscheduled pit stop to fix his headrest, which had come loose during a red-flag stoppage. At the following race in Austria, the team was fored to change a gearbox on the No.44 car, relegating Hamilton five places down the grid.
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| Lewis Hamilton. Mark Sutton/Sutton Images |
"From the team's perspective, we come to Silverstone with a feeling of unfinished business and needing to put things right, even though we took the win in Austria. In both Baku and Spielberg, we left points on the table that were there for the taking because of car problems that had nothing to do with our drivers. We are determined to make sure that doesn't happen in Silverstone."
Since winning the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton has dropped 20 points behind main championship rival Vettel. Wolff has praised the way Hamilton handled his setbacks at the last two races and is certain the three-time world champion will deliver a strong result without more car trouble.
"The entire weekend is like a celebration of motorsport in the UK and of course also a celebration of the driver who is in my view the country's greatest ever F1 talent, Lewis. He enjoys a very special relationship with the fans at Silverstone and has a fantastic record there in recent years.
"The determination for Lewis to fight back with a strong performance this weekend needs no more explanation. Things could have been a lot worse at the last two races -- but his performance and pace deserved a lot better. He has handled the setbacks with the calmness and maturity we have come to expect from him. Lewis is doing the job in a pretty perfect way right now and if he keeps doing that, the results will follow."
Source: http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/19971876/mercedes-wants-put-things-right-lewis-hamilton-british-gp
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