Mercedes looks both ways: 'That's an important fight for us'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Mercedes can win three consecutive Brazilian Grands Prix with victory on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton won in Brazil in 2021, and his teammate George Russell won last year. Toto Wolff calls it good memories and looks ahead to what is to come in Brazil and the two race weekends after.
Mercedes are in a battle for P2 in the constructors' championship with Ferrari and in the drivers' championship in a battle for P2 against Sergio Perez. In the case of the battle with Ferrari, Mercedes is the defending side. The gap is 22 points, and Mercedes had three races left to keep that gap that way. On the other side, the team is battling Lewis Hamilton for P2. The gap to Perez is 20 points.
Wolff looks ahead to Brazilian GP 2023
Wolff explains, "We came away from Mexico with our advantage over Ferrari in the fight for second in the Constructors’ intact. That is an important battle for us and one we are focused on winning. Leaving Mexico with a second-place finish, given the challenging start to the weekend and our grid positions, was positive. The car showed very good race pace however we know we’ve got more work to do to extract the maximum from the W14 across all three days."
Do Mercedes have a chance of winning again in Brazil in 2023? Wolff says: "We know we’ve taken a good step forward in recent races, but Mexico showed W14 can still prove tricky to master. We will look to arrive in Interlagos with a solid baseline to work with and we’ll see what we can do from there."
The Austrian concluded his outlook: "Of course, we have fond memories from Brazil, especially the past two visits with Lewis’ spectacular win in 2021 and George’s first victory in 2022. The fans are super passionate about F1, and we always get such an enthusiastic reception from them. Hopefully our package will run well there, and we can put on a good show for everyone."