Mercedes confident hot weather race issues have been solved

Mercedes believes that they have solved issues they experience during hot races. The Silver Arrows look to have solved their apparent weaknesses during race weekends where the temperature is on the higher end of the scale F1 team's experience during the season.

Lewis Hamilton took victory in Budapest on a race weekend where at the outset it looked as though Mercedes had brought the third fastest car to the race, behind both Ferrari and Red Bull.

Speaking after the race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff explained that Hamilton was able to manage his tyres well enough that the high temperatures were less of an issue than they would have expected.

“Free air plays a big role but it’s a little bit of a mystery that sometimes you perform on a tyre and not on the other one. I think it was the other way around with Ferrari. 

“More data to collect, more to understand, but the prevailing, overarching feeling for us is that we won the race in Budapest with 60-degree track temperature. 

“That was something we would have not thought could be achievable for us. That gives me a good feeling that we have understood more and we can be more competitive in the hot races in the future.”

Hamilton himself admitted that the process of improvement was ongoing and that the fight with Ferrari was far from over.

“The Ferraris have been very, very good on their starts. They have been for years. It’s obviously a priority every year, they start when they’re doing development, because obviously there’s room to gain. 

“The least you want to do is hold position and the most you want to do is gain metres on everyone. We are constantly working. There’s a lot of work going on to try to improve.”