Can Mercedes catch up? 'It's going to be incredibly difficult'
F1 News
Mercedes pulled out all the stops in Montreal, with George Russell taking pole position for Sunday's race. The weekend has started strongly for the team, which saw both of their drivers performing well in free practice too. Toto Wolff remains confident that if the team can continue like this, they could have the chance to catch up with the others.
As of now, Mercedes sit fourth in the Constructors, 88 points behind McLaren. Their drivers, Russell and Lewis Hamilton, sit seventh and eighth in the Drivers standings, with 12 points separating the pair. In Saturday's qualifying, Russell set the same time as world champion Max Verstappen, but as he set it first, he will start on pole. Speaking to Sky Sports after the qualifying session,
Wolff expressed how great it is to be fighting back at the front: "It's always fun, that's my comfort zone, but obviously in the last few races we were thousands off P4 and a tenth off P2 and we were on the receiving end with sixth and seventh. Like you say, tiniest of margins and at this time we are ahead and that was good."
This weekend Mercedes seem to have got to grips with their car, including the upgraded front wing they introduced this weekend. Although Wolff recognises the team's improvements, there is still room for development. "I think we have a grip now. One swallow doesn't make a summer. The lap was great but we need to keep both feet on the ground. Three races ago we were really not good enough and now we have a pole position, a good result. Hopefully we can materialise that tomorrow in a race and I think if we're able to be good on the long runs, I think you can count more on us in the next two races as well," he explained.
'Fighting for victories'
In the past few races, Mercedes have seemed to struggle, and are yet to achieve a podium this season. At the moment, the competition appears to be a three-way title fight between Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, who have all featured on the top step this season. For Wolff, he does believe that there is some potential for the team to catch up though, if they continue to perform like this: "It's going to be incredibly difficult to catch up these points that are lost. We are seven races in, eight races. It's not credible at that stage that we can close up and fight at the front but if we can have those single races from now on where we are fighting for for victories that would be already a good result and make us happy."
If George Russell is able to convert his pole to a win during Sunday's Grand Prix, it will be the first win for the team since 2022 when Russell achieved his maiden F1 win in Brazil. His teammate has not won a race since Saudi Arabia 2021.