Mercedes F1 not sitting nonetheless after current sizzling streak

The hottest Formula 1 crew in the intervening time?

Mercedes.

After a gradual begin to the 2024 season, the Silver Arrows have actually picked up the tempo. A collection of upgrades the crew began to roll out on the Miami Grand Prix have began paying off, resulting in back-to-back victories for the crew. George Russell took house the Austrian Grand Prix for the crew’s first victory of the 2024 season, and whereas that win got here partially as a result of an incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris that knocked each drivers out of competition for the victory, Lewis Hamilton’s. win final Sunday on the British Grand Prix got here largely on the tempo of the W15.

The first signal of a breakthrough got here on the Canadian Grand Prix when Russell captured pole place to begin up entrance in Montreal. While that solely translated to a P3 end — and the crew’s first Grand Prix podium of the yr — it was an indication of larger issues to return.

And since that race, no crew has been hotter than the Silver Arrows. Mercedes has outscored their three rivals atop the F1 Constructors’ standings over the previous 4 race weekends, permitting them to creep again into the combo on the sharp finish of the grid:

As you possibly can see from this graphic courtesy of Formula 1 Points, Mercedes has put themselves again within the dialogue on the high of the desk:

But they don’t seem to be completed.

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff confirmed following the British Grand Prix that extra upgrades are coming to the W15 within the weeks forward.

“There’s extra to return when it comes to efficiency,” said Wolff following Hamilton’s win. “We’re bringing updates to Budapest and Spa.”

The Hungaroring supplied one of many crew’s excessive factors a season in the past, as an identical collection of upgrades to the W14 culminated in Hamilton capturing pole place for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. While Mercedes solely noticed a P4/P6 end within the race itself, Hamilton’s pole place confirmed a degree of enchancment within the W14 the crew was in search of all through 2023.

Now, with the crew rolling into the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix on extra of a sizzling streak, maybe larger issues are attainable subsequent week.

“When you take into account that 5 races in the past we weren’t even a contender for the rostrum, which appeared just like the third yr of non-performance, then it clicked,” added Wolff at Silverstone.

“Suddenly the whole lot that didn’t make sense made sense. And the outcomes of the event instructions are again like within the outdated days. We are discovering efficiency, we’re placing it on the automobile, and it interprets into lap time.

“That wasn’t the case for the final two years. We couldn’t give the drivers a automobile that enabled them to go for the victories.

“And to make Lewis win the British Grand Prix once more in his final race for Mercedes right here is sort of like slightly fairytale, we couldn’t have scripted it higher.”

Will that script proceed in Hungary?