Jul.11 (GMM) Mercedes must up its game to help Lewis Hamilton win the 2017 world championship.
That is the admission of team bosses Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda, who acknowledged that the Briton’s fight against Sebastian Vettel took a hit in the last two races.
“I will now be consulting with Toto because something must happen. 20 points is a lot,” team chairman Lauda told Germany’s RTL television after Austria.
Wolff agrees: “We let him (Hamilton) down with the headrest in Baku, we let him down with the gearbox here (Austria). Now it’s time to strike back.”
Hamilton agrees that, with half of the season now gone, it is important for him to hit back straight away at his home race in Silverstone this weekend.
“I don’t have a crystal ball but with 20 points behind it doesn’t look great.
“Within one race it could switch,” Hamilton added, “but the bigger the gap gets, the more the pressure builds.”