Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team’s Technical Director James Allison believes the Mercedes team are starting to build momentum following Sunday’s 1-2 finish at Silverstone.
Mercedes are increasingly looking to be the better in a two-horse race for the Constructors’ Championship, taking more points out of Scuderia Ferrari’s prancing horse race by race.
The Silver Arrows were able to steal even more points than expected from Ferrari thanks to two late tyre blowouts for both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, whilst Valtteri Bottas, who started ninth with a grid penalty, was able to fight his way up to second. This, along with Lewis Hamilton’s absolutely untouchable performance, helped Mercedes to one of their best weekends of the season.
“This is a sport that asks so much of the people who compete in it, drivers and teams alike, and it is on days like these that it repays every tiny bit of effort one hundred fold” Allison said. “They are beyond description in the degree of pleasure, satisfaction and joy that they bring us all.
“Lewis has all but wiped out the deficit to Vettel in one hammer blow and the team has taken another big leaps in the constructors’ race thanks to a tremendous display from Valtteri, whose work this afternoon completely erased the gearbox penalty he was forced to take this weekend.”
With the next race being the final one before the Summer break, Allison says the team are hungry to perform at Hungary, “It feels like we are starting to build some good momentum in recent races and hopefully we can deliver the same sort of performance in two weeks’ time before heading into the summer break.
“Our work in the next fortnight will focus on optimising every single detail so that we arrive in Hungary prepared for all of the challenges that race can throw at us.”
