Mercedes bringing minor upgrades to Suzuka for “step in the right direction”

Mercedes kicked off this season with a bang, dominating the first half of the season but since the return from the summer break Ferrari have won in Belgium, Italy, taken a 1-2 and Singapore and looked set to do so before Sebastian Vettel retired, ruining the Scuderia’s strategy and handing the Silver Arrows victory.

But the 1-2 from Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas hasn’t changed the fact that Ferrari are stronger in Toto Wolff’s mind.

"Claiming a 1-2 in Sochi after three races without a win was a great feeling," said Wolff.

"However, the win in Sochi doesn’t change the fact that Ferrari had a stronger start to the second part of the season than we did.”

"We’ll bring some minor upgrades to the car in Japan which will hopefully help us take a step in the right direction; however, we know that we need to extract absolutely everything from our car and the tyres if we want to be able to challenge for a win."

Should Mercedes perform better than their rivals in Suzuka and outscore Ferrari by 15 points then they could secure the constructors championship with five races to go.

"We have a strong track record [here], having won every Japanese Grand Prix in the hybrid era, but we expect this year to be challenging given the strength of our opponents,” Wolff added.

"It will be a very close battle on track – and one that we very much look forward to. Our targets for the final quarter of the season is clear and it’s up to us to make sure we achieve them."