Mercedes expect Silverstone will be a “much better” track for their car this weekend after cooling problems ended their winning streak in Austria.

The heat and altitude of the Red Bull Ring contributed to Mercedes’ first defeat of 2019. Silverstone will bring a return to a lower and likely cooler track, but Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is keen to address the car’s weakness before F1 returns to hotter venues.

“I’m really hoping for the typical English weather at Silverstone so we can gain a little bit of time to sort our problems out,” he joked after the Austrian Grand Prix.

“There is no alternative than to fix our problems for the coming hot races, Hockenheim and Budapest. There is no other option.”

Wolff suspects the advantage Ferrari gain from their power unit will also be lessened at the British Grand Prix.

“The power deployment maybe isn’t as much of a differentiator through the fast corners so I think Silverstone should be much more to our liking,” he said. “Maybe not as much as Paul Ricard Paul Ricard but much better than Austria.”

Points leader Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes’ lack of competitiveness was largely track-specific. “There are some circuits where it appears slightly shorter circuits where they [Ferrari] are really super quick on the straights,” he said.

“Our car should be good [at Silverstone], but I have to assume it’ll be close.”

Hamilton’s run of four consecutive home race wins was halted by Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari last year after Hamilton tangled with Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari on the first lap of the race.

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2019 F1 season