Schumacher on Hamilton's apology: 'That shows greatness!'

Mercedes quickly intervened after a disappointing start to the season. The technical department was reorganised and chief technical officer James Allison and technical director Mike Elliott swapped jobs. However, Ralf Schumacher does not yet see the German formation reaping the benefits of this, he noted after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

In mid-April, Mercedes announced that it was going to do a few things differently. Three months later, exactly halfway through the Formula 1 season, it has still brought the W14 (too) little, thinks Schumacher: "I think the restructuring of the technical management team has not yet brought the desired success. But to be honest, other teams like Aston Martin are also struggling with the constant updates to the cars - it's a tricky situation in Formula 1."

Mercedes had mixed feelings about qualifying, as although Lewis Hamilton grabbed his first pole position of the past two seasons, George Russell was stranded as early as Q3. Hamilton, however, could not enjoy his first starting position for long. "In the race, however, he messed up the start and wasted his chance for a podium finish early on. Immediately after the mistake he apologised to the team - that shows greatness!"

Mercedes may be scratching behind the ears

Wolff spoke in summary of a disappointing weekend in Budapest and even said that that made Verstappen look like the rest of the grid was driving Formula 2 cars. Schumacher, a former F1 driver himself, is somewhat struck by the team boss of the Brackley-based formation. "Wolff's behaviour suggests they are in the dark at the moment, which is very unusual and we do not expect from Mercedes, which has dominated for so many years."

In the constructors' championship, Mercedes does still hold second position with 223 points. The lead over number three Aston Martin is 39 points, and then Wolff's men are lucky that Aston Martin is also in a form crisis. Ferrari is the number four with 167 points.