Subsequent week’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal might be a much bigger problem for resurgent Mercedes than final Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, the workforce’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin mentioned on Thursday.

Mercedes completed second and third at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya with seven-time System One world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell securing the workforce’s first double podium of the season.

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Shovlin mentioned in a workforce debrief that an improve package deal and the monitor traits helped Mercedes in Spain however Montreal was a really totally different circuit.

“There are extra low-speed corners, numerous straight-line full throttle and we might count on extra of a problem there,” he mentioned. “We aren’t pondering that we’re stepping into nipping on the heels of Pink Bull.

“We’re stepping into there ready for a battle with Ferrari, Aston Martin and perhaps even Alpine.”

Champions Pink Bull have received all seven races thus far this season, with championship chief Max Verstappen taking 5 victories and Mexican workforce mate Sergio Perez his closest title rival with two.

Aston Martin are third general, forward of Ferrari and Renault-owned Alpine.

Shovlin famous that the distinction between qualifying in second place and tenth on the grid got here all the way down to just a few tenths of a second.

“We’re trying ahead to extra thrilling racing however definitely we’re conscious that Canada is more likely to be a much bigger problem than the Sunday we simply had in Barcelona,” he added.

Verstappen received from pole in Canada final yr with Hamilton third, behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Russell was fourth.

Hamilton took the primary win of his System One profession in Canada in 2007 with McLaren and has received that race seven instances in complete — a report he shares with Ferrari nice Michael Schumacher.