Wolff: Canada was a wake up call

In Montreal, Hamilton and Mercedes won a race that was not theirs to win and they did not even cross the finish line first. One could ask: what more do they need to do to lose a race?

Nevertheless, as always extra cautious team boss Toto Wolff is taking nothing for granted when he said in his preview of this weekend's French Grand Prix, "Canada was something of a wake-up call for us."

"After a run of very good reliability over the opening six races, we experienced a number of problems over the course of the weekend, almost all of which were of our own making - from the problem with the fuel system on Valtteri's car in FP1 to the hydraulic leak on Lewis' car which we had to fix on the morning before the race."

"We were fortunate that those reliability issues were exposed when we still had the chance to solve them, but we know that they could have easily ruined our weekend and it is down to the great skill of our mechanics that they didn't."

"We expect another tough fight in France next weekend. The circuit features some similarities to Montreal and the long straights will present a challenge for us."

"However, unlike Canada, the corner characteristics are spread across a range of speeds, which should play to our advantage. We're looking forward to the chance to put a few things right again."

Whatever the case stats show that heading to round eight in France this weekend, Mercedes lead the constructors' championship by 123 points while their drivers are one-two and weel ahead in the drivers' standings.

No team has ever started a season with such dominance, which Wolff attributes to the factories, "Part of our strength over the past three months was that the entire team - at the track, in Brackley and in Brixworth - delivered to a very high level and we need to make sure that we achieve the same high standard again for France."

Meanwhile, it was recently announced that publication of the final F1 rules for 2021 and beyond will be delayed until later this year as the stakeholders have failed to find concord with the road-map for the future of the sport.

Wolff shed light on the reasoning behind the postponement, "Last week, the ten F1 teams met with the FIA and Formula 1. We agreed to postpone the presentation of the 2021 regulations until October, giving us all more time to work on them to achieve our shared goals."

"F1 is the undisputed pinnacle of motorsports; every weekend, millions of fans around the globe share our excitement about racing. We want to use the unique opportunity of the 2021 regulations to make the series even more exciting for the fans, to make the racing more competitive and to grow the sport globally."

"Finding the right compromise between the various stakeholders is not easy, but we're united in our passion for racing and our will to define a set of rules that will see F1 thrive in the next decade," added the Mercedes team principal.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/06/03/wolff-canada-will-be-a-huge-challenge-for-us/