Toto Wolff’s Mercedes demand which may hand Lewis Hamilton advantage over Max Verstappen

F1: Can Lewis Hamilton do it again?

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After scoring just seven points over the last two races, Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff says it’s integral they deliver a car this weekend that both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas can get the most out of at the French Grand Prix.

After two disappointing Grands Prix in Monaco and Baku, Mercedes are hoping to bounce back this weekend and take control of both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings, which are occupied by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, respectively.

Hamilton struggled throughout the whole weekend in Monaco having qualified seventh around the streets of Monte Carlo. His team-mate, however, fared better until a wheel-nut became lodged onto the axle and couldn’t be removed, as he was forced to surrender a likely second-place finish. Hamilton came home in seventh, with a point for fastest lap.

Neither driver scored in Azerbaijan with Hamilton missing out on a podium due to a rare mistake on the red flag restart, and Bottas seemingly unable to hook up the W12 around the street circuit.

“In Monaco and Baku we put the W12 in a window where only one of our drivers found the confidence to unlock the performance of the car: Valtteri in Monaco and Lewis in Baku,” said Wolff.

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“In such a close, intense title fight, we need to deliver a car at each race which both our drivers can confidently push to its limits.”

“The French Grand Prix means returning to a more traditional circuit and hopefully, better fortunes for us,” continued Wolff. “It is a track we’ve gone well at in the past and, with a wide range of corner speeds that will test the car in every aspect, it’s an interesting challenge for us to tackle.

Verstappen now leads the standings by four points thanks to Mercedes’ woes, with Red Bull extending their lead in the team standings by 26 points after victory for Sergio Perez in Baku.

Bottas, meanwhile, crossed the line 12th and is struggling for form this season with a third-place finish his best performance so far.

But, with 16 races to go, Wolff is confident his team could turn their form around at a track that historically favours Mercedes.

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“We’re six races into the season and there’s still a long way to go,” he said.

“It’s looking very close at the front and we’re not expecting that to change anytime soon.

“We’ll be looking to turn our learnings from recent weeks into performance and to deliver a much stronger weekend with both cars.”

And, speaking ahead of the race, Hamilton was keen to put the past behind them.

“We continue to strive for perfection, we continue to unite and there is not really a lot we can’t do when we are together and united,” he said,

“So I am looking forward to getting back onto a track where we probably won’t be as affected with tyre temps, for example.

“The last two races have definitely been really difficult for us as a whole, as a team.

“Fortunately, with two terrible races for us, we ended up being very, very close in points so the race is still very much on.”

Meanwhile, Verstappen, who was alongside the seven-time world champion in the press conference ahead of the French Grand Prix, agreed that due to the nature of the track at Paul Ricard, Mercedes would be stronger.

“I think street circuits can be really tricky with tyre warm-up, getting in at the right window, sometimes Q3 we have seen red flags and stuff, it’s a bit more upsetting,” he said.

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