In the words of Toto Wolff, “The past has no relevance in Formula 1.” Mercedes dominated the turbo-hybrid era from 2014 to 2021, winning seven drivers’ titles and all eight constructors’ championships. But since the new regulations were introduced in 2022, the Brackley outfit has struggled to match and keep up with Red Bull. The Milton-Keynes team has been so dominant this year that its won all nine races so far and is showing no signs of slowing down. And Lewis Hamilton believes that Red Bull could win every race this season.

Toto Wolff was a little more optimistic, though. During the Canadian GP, he was asked if Mercedes could win a race this year where it would be. He answered, “Silverstone.” Silverstone, home of the British GP—Mercedes’ home race—has been known to be a stronghold for them. But in the past couple of years, that hasn’t been the case to the full extent, which is why, even with a new upgrade to the W14, Hamilton isn’t too optimistic about his chances.

Lewis Hamilton hopes for a better result at the British GP

Although Hamilton isn’t hopeful of a win at his home race, he is optimistic about a better performance than the Austrian GP. Last weekend wasn’t the best for Mercedes. While Lewis had the short-run pace to qualify in P5 for the race, he didn’t have the long-run pace (that Mercedes should have had, according to data) to compete. He finished in P8 behind his teammate, George Russell, in P7—concluding a weekend to forget for the Brackley outfit.

Coming into the British GP, Hamilton was asked about upgrades to the car and his expectations for the weekend. He replied, “We have a new front wing. So it’s just one step, hopefully further in the right direction. It’s not a huge package or anything like that. We’re just making, step by step, hopefully trying to close down the gap.”

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Usually, the front wing of an F1 car is worth around $141,000 & upwards. In the budget cap era, every team including Mercedes has to be cognizant of the spending limits. Thus, Lewis & Co. know that they cannot bring such front-wing updates at a whim. While the Brackley team made steps in Spain and Canada that helped close the gap to Red Bull and catch up and overtake Aston Martin, Hamilton knows Silverstone may not be a big turnaround that puts him in the mix with Verstappen.

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Despite the underwhelming performance in Austria, the team is still ahead of Aston Martin in its fight for P2 in the championship. While it was a weekend to forget for Mercedes, Hamilton, and Wolff believe it was crucial to help the team’s development.

The Austrian GP was a learning curve for Lewis Hamilton & Co.

The Red Bull Ring hasn’t traditionally been a strong track for Mercedes. So going into the weekend after its success (Hamilton’s P3) in Canada, the team wasn’t hoping for too much. In an interview with CNBC, Wolff said, “Austria is a learning race because we’re not introducing any major upgrades. We’re just trying to understand more. For me, personally, if you can’t compete for P1 or for the championship, P2, P3 isn’t of utmost importance. It’s really to accelerate our learning curve.”

After the weekend, it became evident that Mercedes had a lot of work to do. While talking to the media at the British GP, Hamilton expressed precisely this. He said, “Obviously, Austria was not a nice weekend for us all, but that’s where we learn the most. That’s when we pull together the most as a team.” Whether Mercedes learned anything from its outing in Austria will be determined at Silverstone after analyzing the effectiveness of the new front wing.

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