Lewis Hamilton expects some movements in the order in the second half but not huge, while George Russell feels Mercedes will be strong.
While Red Bull is a bit far apart, Mercedes has found itself in a fight against Aston Martin, McLaren and Ferrari. But they have managed to stay ahead of them with a good lead in the first half despite not having the second fastest car throughout the season.
The consistency has helped them and others taking off points from each other too especially how McLaren have risen and Aston Martin have dropped down. Hamilton expects some movements in second half but hopes that Mercedes will stay ahead.
“I don’t know how much developing people will be doing in the second part of the season, but I think there will be movement,” said Hamilton. “I mean, I don’t know what happened to Aston and how they’ve taken a step back.
“But I’m sure McLaren was really strong in the second phase, Ferrari and we were very close so dependent on track I’m sure there’ll be some movement in the positions. I hope that we can be a little better,” summed up Hamilton.
His teammate Russell feels that Mercedes has things in their bag for the second half and it will help them to be stronger to retain second. He adds on McLaren having slight drop in the last grand prix which he reckons is just how the sport is sometimes.
“I think, they just had a really good run of form, it’s often how it goes in this sport, when you’re on the right foot everything a little bit easier,” said Russell. “You’re not stressing your… the car is in the right place when you put on the ground.
“I’m sure we’re going to be strong the second half of the season. And we’ve got some little things come in after the break. But I’m confident we can sort of secure the second best team [position] and try and close that gap further.”
Here’s Toto Wolff on being par with second Red Bull
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on updates
Here’s George Russell on set-up issues
Here’s Toto Wolff on bouncing
Here’s news on Frederik Vesti getting FP1 chance