Wolff not getting hopes up despite strong Canada showing

Jamie Woodhouse
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, on the grid. Canada, June 2022.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, preparing on the grid pre-race. Canada, June 2022.

Lewis Hamilton scored a podium finish on merit at the Canadian GP, but Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is not getting carried away.

The Mercedes W13 provided Hamilton and George Russell with a much smoother ride in Canada compared to the Azerbaijan GP prior to that, this translating into a performance boost as Hamilton claimed a P3 finish, his best result since the season-opener in Bahrain.

That was Mercedes’ fifth podium of the season, but with the exception of Spain and now Canada, the other three podiums came about largely thanks to misfortune for Red Bull or Ferrari.

Mercedes can certainly take encouragement from the fact that in the closing stages in Montreal, Hamilton’s pace was similar to that of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz ahead, Verstappen managing to hold off Sainz’s attack to claim the victory.

Wolff though made it clear that Mercedes cannot get ahead of themselves.

Lewis Hamilton smiling on the podium after finishing third. Montreal June 2022
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton smiling on the podium after finishing third. Montreal June 2022

“One swallow doesn’t make a summer,” said Wolff, quoted by GPFans. “We saw that swallow in Barcelona but somehow it flew somewhere else!

“We need to be careful. We were off the pace on Friday. In the wet we were good, I think that was respectable, and at times on Sunday, we were with the quickest cars.

“In the second stint, Lewis and George were almost matching the front-runners, not quite but on some laps yes, and that is very encouraging to see.

“But we just need to be careful. There is so much work we need to do in order to be back at the front and we are not yet there.”

Russell crossed the line P4 in Montreal, a place and five seconds behind Hamilton, the Brit explaining that while he would have liked to have pitted during the first Virtual Safety Car, he did not think it would have changed his finishing position.

The end result was that Russell now moves onto 111 points for the season, Hamilton improving to 77 as he slightly narrowed his deficit to Russell to 34 points.

In the Constructors’ Mercedes now trail Ferrari by 40 points, Ferrari having 228 on the board to Mercedes’ 188, after two consecutive 3-4 finishes for the reigning champions.

 

Hamilton bags much needed podium

Mercedes came away from the Canadian GP with a much needed podium for Lewis Hamilton and strong fourth place for George Russell.