Wolff hopes to stay ahead of Red Bull at Spa: 'There is momentum'

Although George Russell won the Grand Prix in Austria due to the crash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton did win the next weekend at Silverstone on pure speed. In Hungary, Hamilton also managed to keep Verstappen behind him. So this indicates that Mercedes has taken a strong step forward.

Wolff hopes Mercedes' momentum continues

"We head into the final race before the summer break on a run of five consecutive podium finishes. We are therefore looking to continue that momentum and finish the first half of the season strongly," Wolff echoes in a preview of the Belgian Grand Prix.

"The pack at the front is close and we will have to be at our best to do so though. Whilst we are lacking a little bit of pace compared to some of our competitors, we continue to bring performance to the car. We are on a positive trajectory and that is encouraging. It is not yet enough to fight for victories consistently each and every weekend, but has enabled us to be in contention for the top-three more regularly."

Mercedes' car previously seemed to perform better in cooler conditions. But in the heat in Hungary, the W15 also worked quite well. "Last weekend in Hungary was not straightforward," the Mercedes team boss continued.

"We qualified out of position and left ourselves with plenty of work to do. We were able to race hard on Sunday though and score solid points, including Lewis claiming his 200th podium in F1 which is a superb achievement. It was positive to see the steps we have made in those hotter conditions, although there is more work to do. Spa is a very different challenge to Budapest. With cooler temperatures and a much more high-speed layout, it will be interesting to see how the W15 performs compared to our rivals."

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy