I’m glad they’re doing well again, they can take points from Ferrari. Max Verstappen welcomes Mercedes’ return to the top

Although Mercedes entered the season with a great result (they took third and fourth place in the opening race in Bahrain), one thing was clear to everyone after the next few events – the Brackley team would not be fighting for the title. However, Mercedes are now back in contention for the win, to which Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has responded.

Mercedes scored some very solid points in Bahrain (third and fourth), but the opening race of the season was followed by a series of races where Mercedes’ performance was a see-saw.

In Saudi Arabia, Lewis Hamilton dropped out of the first qualifying session. Two weeks later in Australia, he finished fourth and his teammate George Russell took the podium in third place.

The first hint that Mercedes could start to challenge for race wins came in Barcelona. At the Spanish circuit, the engineers managed to set up the car in such a way that they significantly reduced the bouncing on the straights, the so-called porpoising. This is what caused the drivers to lose the most time on the track.

In Saudi Arabia, Mercedes was again struggling with porpoising. A significant shift then came in Canada, and Mercedes made a complete turnaround at the Silverstone circuit in England. The seven-time champion had been fighting for the top spot for a long time.

He was the fastest driver on the track. However, after a late safety car and a thrilling battle with Sergio Pérez and Charles Leclerc, he had to settle for third place.

When George Russell set the fastest lap of qualifying in Hungary to claim his first career pole position, it was clear that Mercedes had solved its early problems and would only be getting closer to the Ferrari-Red Bull pairing.

Verstappen’s statement

The reigning champion is not afraid of the threat on behalf of Mercedes, on the contrary – he welcomes it. “It’s good that they are competitive again because they can take more points from Ferrari. So yes, I’m glad they’re doing well,” Verstappen told Sky Sports.

The Dutch driver leads the Drivers’ Cup by 80 points, but that does not mean he is resting on his laurels. Nor was he 100 per cent satisfied with his victory in Hungary.

“In the race we had problems with the clutch and the gearbox, so the car was difficult to drive. Overall, everything is fine, of course, but we have to keep working, trying to improve everything,” Verstappen concluded.

F1, Sky Sports