Canada was a ‘wake-up call’ for Mercedes

Mark Scott
LLewis-Hamilton-pushed-back-into-garage-PA

Mercedes explain Lewis Hamilton's hydraulic drama

Mercedes are looking forward to putting a “few things right again” in France after receiving a “wake-up call” at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Controversial result aside, Mercedes were put through the ringer with reliability issues that threatened to derail the entire weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Wolff said these issues were nearly all of Mercedes’ own doing and wants to put right those wrongs by working with a clean slate in France.

“Canada was something of a wake-up call for us,” Wolff said via the official Mercedes website.

After a run of very good reliability over the opening six races, we experienced a number of problems over the course of the weekend, almost all of which were of our own making – from the problem with the fuel system on Valtteri’s car in FP1 to the hydraulic leak on Lewis’ car which we had to fix on the morning before the race.

“We were fortunate that those reliability issues were exposed when we still had the chance to solve them, but we know that they could have easily ruined our weekend and it is down to the great skill of our mechanics that they didn’t.

“We expect another tough fight in France next weekend. The circuit features some similarities to Montreal and the long straights will present a challenge for us.

“However, unlike Canada, the corner characteristics are spread across a range of speeds, which should play to our advantage. We’re looking forward to the chance to put a few things right again.

“Part of our strength over the past three months was that the entire team – at the track, in Brackley and in Brixworth – delivered to a very high level and we need to make sure that we achieve the same high standard again for France.”

Mercedes have secured P1 in all seven races so far, with Lewis Hamilton picking up five wins and Valtteri Bottas collecting the other two victories.

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