Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the summer break came at the right time for his team as they look to regroup and continue their pursuit for both world championships.
Having won more than half of the races so far in 2017, Mercedes have continued to maintain their front running pace after a massive rule change and Wolff is proud of his team to have achieve that feat, however, the Austrian is ready to push his team into another gear going forward.
“The summer shutdown came at the perfect time for us to make a step back and take stock of our season so far,” Wolff said. “It has been a good one – and has shown a lot of the qualities of our team.
“We have overcome a difficult start to testing and significantly improved a fast but tricky car; we have won six races from 11, including victories for both our drivers; we trail in one championship by 14 points, and lead the other by 39. But it hasn’t been easy sailing. We have learned hard lessons, grown strong as a group and there are still many areas for us to keep improving.
“It was clear to all of us that 2017 would be a very different season to the three that came before. Then, we had the luxury of a performance advantage to the rest of the field, which meant our two drivers were fighting for the title between themselves.
“For this year, the rules were changed to reset the competitive balance across the field. And it worked. For the first time ever, the champion team has maintained its status as a pacesetter after a big rule change and we are proud that we laid down that marker. But that is now history.”
As the gap in performance continues to swing between their main title rivals Ferrari, Wolff believes Mercedes must continue to show the resilient strength which has put them in their current position with nine races to go.
With Red Bull Racing creeping into the same performance window, Wolff is all to aware of what can happen if the team lower their guard.
“From what we have seen in the first half of the season, the competitive balance will swing one way and another from circuit to circuit,” he added.
“Red Bull will be a threat if they can build on the performance they showed in Hungary. So we need to keep our heads down, stay humble regarding our strengths, diligent about our weaknesses and take the season weekend by weekend.
“On paper, people will assume that Spa should suit our car because it is a circuit where aerodynamic efficiency is extremely important. But assumptions are dangerous – we have seen too many times already this season that the form book can be rewritten from one weekend to the next. So we will be making no assumptions; we have to tick off the items on our work list and make sure we do the best job to maximise our potential points score.
“The motivation and determination in the factory are greater than ever. Hungary showed the strength of our team – and we intend to use the second half of this season to prove that strength.”
