Both Mercedes AMG F1 drivers had a successful French Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton took second place, just ahead of his team-mate George Russell. But despite these good results, Toto Wolff did not want to get carried away, aware of the gap between himself and his rivals, notably Ferrari and Red Bull. The Mercedes team manager hopes to make up for it in the coming weeks but makes a confession that the car is still not competitive.

The French Grand Prix was eventful. Charles Leclerc started from pole position but did not finish the race. The Ferrari driver went off into the barriers on lap 18, which immediately ended his hopes of victory. The win obviously went to Max Verstappen, who strengthened his position as overall championship leader. The Red Bull driver finished ahead of the two Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. But despite this good overall result, Toto Wolff refused to get carried away saying the car is not in a position to fight for wins.

The Mercedes team boss says that his drivers could have been easily off the podium had it not been for Charles Leclerc’s retirement.

“Finishing second and third is great and we scored some solid points in the championship and it’s encouraging that we are able to achieve these results on Sunday. But the truth is that if everyone finishes where they should, we would have finished third and fourth on a regular basis,” said the Austrian.

“We lack single-lap performance” admits Wolff.

Toto Wolff is aware that the car is not as good as Red Bull’s or Ferrari’s confessing that “we had the pace to fight with Perez, but Leclerc retired and Sainz went to the back of the grid,

“It’s simple, I think we lack performance on one lap and we lack performance on the first few laps of the race. We are working hard to close a gap that is still large,” admitted Toto Wolff.

“It’s hard to fight for the Formula 1 World Championship title under these conditions.”

The seven-time Formula 1 world champion is fighting with the limited resources at his disposal admits Wolff. Aware of the difficulties, the team manager hopes for some improvements in the coming weeks however.

“We have a seven-time world champion and a great driver in the making. They are both positive, they work well together, they complement each other in the briefings to try to make the car faster, they work on the set-up, it’s good to see,

“We see a seven-time world champion in a car that is not worthy of a world champion at the moment. He’s giving everything he’s got and making the most of this car, it’s obvious that our two drivers are getting the most out of our car at the moment”, said the Mercedes boss.