Toto Wolff warns of Red Bull pace but admits Mercedes don’t want to ‘pass the baton’ yet

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he doesn’t expect drastic changes from their British Grand Prix upgrade package at Silverstone but they “won’t stop fighting”, as Lewis Hamilton looks to close the gap to Max Verstappen this weekend.

Red Bull have collected five wins in the past six races, extending their lead by 44 points in the Constructors’ Championship, with Verstappen sitting 32 points ahead of Hamilton heading into round ten, the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton had demanded Mercedes bring upgrades to their car, if they’re to stay in the battle with Red Bull and Verstappen this season, with Mercedes’ chief technical officer James Allison confirming new parts were to come ahead at Silverstone.

“I knew that we had that upgrade coming,” Hamilton said ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. “At the end of the day, the guys are working. Everyone is working absolutely flat out.

“We’re learning more and more about this car, we’re discovering where we need to push more, and extract more and I have all the confidence in the team that we will do that over the course of time.”

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Speaking on Friday however, Wolff said he doesn’t expect to see huge changes in their pace, despite Hamilton’s seven wins around the Northamptonshire circuit.

“What do we want to say the upgrades are not gonna change a great deal there is a performance gap to Red Bull, and even before Silverstone we knew

“The new track is a little bit of what we need our cars happier here, and it is.

“The drivers are actually quite, quite happy with where the car is.

“We were the only ones doing a real long run [in practice], but there is just a performance gap and we just need to stay up with the tools that are available for us.

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“Obviously and nevertheless, we don’t stop fighting.”

“It’s not just one race, I mean, this is motor racing if you start to say, we have a gap and we won’t be able to catch up then you shouldn’t be here.

“I think it’s a test for the team we had seven years that were fantastic.

“And we definitely are not ready to keep the baton to these guys but we will see where the season goes, and then also next.”

The British Grand Prix gets underway at 3pm on Sunday.

The results from the 17 lap race on Saturday will determine the grid ahead of the main event at Silverstone.

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