Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Off the back of successive wins, Mercedes is looking for more ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix
The hottest Formula 1 team at the moment?
Mercedes.
After a slow start to the 2024 season, the Silver Arrows have certainly picked up the pace. A series of upgrades the team started to roll out at the Miami Grand Prix have started paying off, leading to back-to-back victories for the team. George Russell took home the Austrian Grand Prix for the team’s first victory of the 2024 season, and while that win came in part due to an incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris that knocked both drivers out of contention for the victory, Lewis Hamilton’s. win last Sunday at the British Grand Prix came largely on the pace of the W15.
The first sign of a breakthrough came at the Canadian Grand Prix when Russell captured pole position to start up front in Montreal. While that only translated to a P3 finish — and the team’s first Grand Prix podium of the year — it was a sign of bigger things to come.
And since that race, no team has been hotter than the Silver Arrows. Mercedes has outscored their three rivals atop the F1 Constructors’ standings over the past four race weekends, allowing them to creep back into the mix at the sharp end of the grid:
As you can see from this graphic courtesy of Formula 1 Points, Mercedes has put themselves back in the discussion at the top of the table:
But they are not done.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff confirmed following the British Grand Prix that more upgrades are coming to the W15 in the weeks ahead.
“There’s more to come in terms of performance,” said Wolff following Hamilton’s win. “We’re bringing updates to Budapest and Spa.”
The Hungaroring provided one of the team’s high points a season ago, as a similar series of upgrades to the W14 culminated in Hamilton capturing pole position for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. While Mercedes only saw a P4/P6 finish in the race itself, Hamilton’s pole position showed a level of improvement in the W14 the team was seeking throughout 2023.
Now, with the team rolling into the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix on more of a hot streak, perhaps bigger things are possible next week.
“When you consider that five races ago we weren’t even a contender for the podium, which looked like the third year of non-performance, then it clicked,” added Wolff at Silverstone.
“Suddenly everything that didn’t make sense made sense. And the results of the development directions are back like in the old days. We are finding performance, we’re putting it on the car, and it translates into lap time.
“That wasn’t the case for the last two years. We couldn’t give the drivers a car that enabled them to go for the victories.
“And to make Lewis win the British Grand Prix again in his last race for Mercedes here is almost like a little fairytale, we couldn’t have scripted it better.”
Will that script continue in Hungary?
