F1 is in the middle of an intense weekend triple headers. Mercedes, after an encouraging weekend in Barcelona, heads towards the Austrian GP with renewed optimism.
Round 11 of the 2024 Formula 1 season will take place at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring where the Sprint Race returns (here is the program). The Anglo-German team will look to continue the upward trend that has helped secure back-to-back podiums in Canada and Spain, as well as Russell's pole in Montreal.
“We head towards Austria looking to continue that positive progress on the track“, said Toto Woll before his home race. “It's a very different circuit to last weekend and this will be another challenge and benchmark for our car. It has lots of low-speed corners divided by some longer straights and a high-speed central sector” (here for the preview).
Compared to the start of 2024, the W15 was definitely equipped to take on the challenges of Barcelona last weekend. A second consecutive P3 and P4 placing demonstrated the progress that has been made at Brackley and Brixworth to move closer to the top of the class
![Mercedes W15](https://www.formulacritica.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Mercedes-W15-1-jpg.webp)
“The team worked hard for improve the competitiveness of the W15 on circuits with a wide speed range, like last weekend. These incremental gains helped us build on the momentum we had established in Montreal. Even though we didn't have the maximum pace to compete for the win, it was encouraging to be in the mix“.
“Lewis – continued Wolff – he drove a great race to get a well-deserved podium and George managed his final stint well to take P4. This ensured we came away from the weekend with a solid haul of points“.
“The gap to the leaders is closing, but the work to make victories a possibility will not diminish“. Wolff again: “We know there is still a lot of work to do to have a realistic chance of fighting for victories. This work is ongoing and we are on an upward development trajectory. The leading group is very compact and we will have to be at our best to fight for the podium once again“.
Getting into the top three is therefore the goal for the Styria stage. It won't be easy because there is also Ferrari who is eager to recover after two terrible races.
Crediti foto: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team