Mercedes seek change after Lewis Hamilton scare as Christian Horner twists knife

Antiques Roadshow guest brings in Lewis Hamilton's overalls

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell took a positive step towards Red Bull last weekend by finishing second and third at the Spanish Grand Prix. Christian Horner isn’t particularly frightened, however, with Max Verstappen still finishing way out in front at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Both Mercedes and Red Bull have two weeks to stew on the result as fans wait patiently for the Canadian Grand Prix to come around next weekend. The Silver Arrows are now second in the Constructors’ Championship, but Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez have won all seven Grands Prix between them so far in 2023.

Mercedes will hope that certainty around Hamilton’s contract situation can allow them to kick on again, with the seven-time world champion edging closer to an agreement that is sure to see him finish his career with the team he joined in 2013.

With all this to delve into and more, follow Express Sport’s live updates below…

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Christian Horner twists knife

Mercedes patted themselves on the back after a job well done at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell coming home second and third.

The Silver Arrows reaped the benefits of their wide-ranging upgrades package and jumped up to second in the Constructors’ Championship.

But Red Bull boss Horner was quick to rain on their parade by pointing out that they are just as far behind as they were at the start of the season.

“They must have used a significant proportion of their development budget on that, and when look at the gap at the end of the race, it’s very similar to where it was in Bahrain,” he said.

“All that’s happening is the running order behind us seems to vary from race to race. It was Fernando [Alonso in Monaco], Mercedes [in Spain] and it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out over the next few races.”

Mercedes seek changes after Lewis Hamilton scare

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin claims that the team are set to put their heads together and work out how they can avoid a repeat of what happened in qualifying last weekend.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell gave the team an almighty scare by colliding in Barcelona as Hamilton was forced off track with a damaged front wing.

“Put simply, the drivers were trying to find a car finishing a lap to get a slingshot starting the lap themselves,” Shovlin explained.

“Now that we are back here at the factory though, we will sit down and look at how we need to change our communication to make sure that we don’t confuse the drivers by not giving them the whole picture.”

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