Mercedes aims to bring upgrades to its 2024 Formula 1 car “at a pace that the others cannot keep up with” amid the team’s return to form at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The German marque’s underwhelming opening to the current campaign was dispelled in Montreal as its W15 car came alive and upheld genuine race-winning speed.
But while George Russell delivered on promising practice pace to pip Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pole position, the Briton rued several errors as he dropped to third.
Meanwhile, team-mate Lewis Hamilton labelled his outing one of his “worst drives” as he recovered to fourth from seventh having been the pacesetting driver in FP3.
Mercedes Technical Director James Allison admitted that missing out on a potential win came second to the satisfaction of being back in the battle at the sharp end.
“There is an undercurrent of great happiness, but also a little bit of ‘Oh, you know, that could have been a win,’ and you cannot put that out of your mind, however hard you try,” he said.
“But the main feeling is just a delight that this was another step forward for the car.
“The first weekend where we could claim to be nicely competitive and maybe a bellwether for better things to come.”
Mercedes’ revival has been attributed to a revised front wing that was introduced in Monaco and has eradicated the balance issues it combated earlier in the season.
Asked whether the new part which both drivers utilised in Canada worked as anticipated based on the side’s simulation numbers, Allison answered: “I would say yes.
“We had got an idea of how it would behave, because we had run it the previous race in Monaco with just George on that occasion.
“We had two of them in Montreal, and we expected it to perform well.
“We expected it to deliver a bit more in Canada than it did in Monaco, because the Canada circuit, although unusual, is more of a normal circuit than Monaco was.
“It delivered more performance, it made the car feel easy to drive, well-balanced, and made the car the driver’s friend rather than the thing they had been fighting, which has been what has been problematic in the opening part of the season for us.
Russell was adamant post-race that Mercedes’ pace was genuine and that it would now be in a position to be among the teams hunting down Red Bull on each track.
However, Allison has adopted a more cautious stance as he warned that Mercedes does not expect to be as strong as it was in Canada on more conventional circuits.
“The changes we have made are making this car a better car. And that will be true at every circuit we go to,” he explained.
“The characteristics of Montreal make it look a little quicker than we have a natural right to command at the coming races.
“In Barcelona, I think it more likely that we will be competitive, but not right at the front.
“Because the next tracks are a little bit of a sterner test of a car. Hot asphalt, wider cornering speeds.”
Nevertheless, the British engineer teased that Mercedes would continue with an aggressive approach to introducing updates as it plans to out-develop the competition.
“However, I also know what we have got coming,” he continued. “I also know what we are planning to further improve the car.
“Our challenge is just to keep those upgrades arriving at a pace that the others cannot keep up with.
“In doing that, just bullying our car to the front by virtue of the effort made by everybody here over the coming weeks and months to get the car so that it can have its Montreal weekend or better at any track that we face in the future.
