Can Mercedes’ recover before the summer break?

Netflix’s Drive To Survive became everyone’s favourite sport documentary during lockdown, and as a result over the last two years Formula 1 has seen a huge spike in popularity with one of the biggest races of the year coming up in the first weekend of July - Silverstone.

As everyone would have seen in the show, there has been one team at the top of the pile for the last 8 years - Mercedes'. There’s also been one man who has reigned supreme in 6 of the last 8 seasons - Lewis Hamilton. As the Turbo-Hybrid era of engines ended in 2021, the sport entered into untouched territory giving all of the teams the chance to completely transform, for better or for worse.

The new era has seen a few surprising changes to the standings. After Barcelona, Haas have 15 points more this year than they have the previous two combined, Red Bull sit top of the Constructor’s standings whilst Ferrari have finally found consistent form, sitting in second, only 26 points off the top with Charles LeClerc being the biggest challenge to Max Verstappen’s throne. A team and a racer missing there is Mercedes’ and Lewis Hamilton. There was definite improvement in Barcelona, but the question on everyone’s mind is; can Mercedes’ give Hamilton and George Russell a race winning car, and if so, when is it too late?

At the time of writing, Formula One still has to visit Monaco, Azerbaijan & Canada before heading to Silverstone however it is highly unlikely any team will use many upgrades for the two street tracks. Three time World Champion Nelson Piquet said Monaco was like riding a bicycle around your living room, and that race is all about qualifying due to the struggle of overtaking so it can be expected that it will be a Red Bull or Ferrari win in Monaco.

But Silverstone is a track Mercedes’ have won in 8 of the last 10 visits with Hamilton winning 7 of them. It’s a track they regularly dominate and with a month of preparation and upgrades, they may be within touching distance of the win. George Russell has been spectacular at Mercedes’ being the only driver to finish in the top 5 all season (2 podiums), whilst in Barcelona, Hamilton had the fastest race pace and finished 5th, despite one point being 19th & 30 seconds behind 18th place. Mercedes’ have solved their porpoising issues down the straights, but it’s been said there are still issues with that on the corners.

With Silverstone being such an important track for Mercedes’, and it being a month before the summer break, it can be said that if they do not have their first win on this weekend (or before), then they are all but certainly out of the title race, but for the 142,000 fans attending the great is to see a Mercedes’ car driving and flying the British flag around the track once more.

Watch all the Formula One fixtures live at Sports Bar & Grill Marylebone and see how Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes' perform on the track.