Mercedes warn next F1 races will be “sterner test” after strong Canada showing

James Allison has warned that the upcoming F1 rounds will be a “sterner test” of whether Mercedes have truly closed the gap to the top three teams.

Mercedes enjoyed their strongest weekend of the year so far at the Canadian Grand Prix as George Russell clinched pole position.

Russell converted that pole into Mercedes’ first podium finish of the year, while Lewis Hamilton backed him up in fourth.

Mercedes arguably had the quickest car on race day, at least in dry conditions, which is a remarkable turnaround given their recent struggles.

Speaking during Mercedes’ debrief on their YouTube channel, Allison felt the W15 excelled due to the track layout.

“We expected it to perform well,” he said. “We expected it to deliver a bit more in in Canada than it did in Monaco because the Canada circuit, although unusual, is more of a normal circuit than Monaco was.

“And it did, it delivered more performance. It made the car feel easier to drive, well balanced and made the car the drivers’ friend rather than the thing they’ve been fighting, which has been what has been problematic in the opening part of the season for us.”

Mercedes have been heavily developing their car, introducing a new front wing in Monaco.

They plan to add a new floor to the car for Spain this weekend, as they look to build on this momentum.

However, Allison conceded that other tracks, like Barcelona, will prove to be a tougher test to compete at the front.

“I think we have broadened it substantially,” he added. “I think there’s more we still need to do and we’ll know for sure when we go to the next track, which is Barcelona, because there, there is really very substantial range of cornering conditions. There is also a much hotter track and so that will be a quite a stern test of a vehicle.”

“The changes we’ve made are definitely making this car a better car and that will that will be true at every circuit we go to. The characteristics of Montreal probably make it look a little quicker than than we have a natural right to command at the coming races. I think it’s more likely that we will be competitive but not right at the front.

“The next tracks are a little bit of a sterner test of a car: Hot asphalt, wider cornering speeds and so on. However, that said, I also know what we’ve got coming. I also know what we’re planning to further improve the car.

“Our challenge is just to keep those upgrades arriving at a pace that the others can’t keep up with. And in doing that, just bullying our car to the front by virtue of the effort made by everybody here over the coming weeks and months to get the car so that it can have its Montreal weekend or better at any track that we face in the future.”