Toto Wolff is under no illusions that Mercedes is still significantly lagging Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of pure performance despite the German outfit achieving its season best result in France.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell concluded their race at the Circuit Paul Ricard respectively second and third, their best collective result with Mercedes.
But circumstances, marked by Charles Leclerc's early exit from the race and Carlos Sainz's back-row start, played into the hands of the Silver Arrows outfit which on pure pace is still playing catch up with its rivals.
And after last Sunday's race, Wolff was quick to distinguish the team's results from its performance relative to its rivals.
"I think second and third is great – two steps on the podium – and we scored solid points in the championships," the Austrian said. "And it’s encouraging that we are able to score these results on Sunday, but it’s just still very difficult for us to pin down where we have gaps.
"The truth is if everybody finishes where they should… We had the pace to go with Perez but Leclerc shunted out … so we are third and fourth on track. Maybe with Sainz not starting at the back – but then an engine penalty is an engine penalty – but if you are pessimistic…
©Mercedes
"I think Budapest is really going to be good for us, because Paul Ricard – a flat surface, not bumpy and fast corners – was not so good for us, so we have to have some sort of opposite thinking now that the track that shouldn’t suit us and isn’t great, maybe we can be good!
"But joking aside I have no idea. You come here with expectations of fighting at the front, you don’t, so I don’t know what to expect in Budapest."
While running second to race winner Max Verstappen, Hamilton appeared to be able to remain in the wake of the Red Bull. But Wolff believes the Dutchman, managing his race and his tyres, was no where near the limit of his RB18.
"I think he [Hamilton] was able to stabilise the gap at five or six seconds in the first stint, but you need to be honest and say when they were racing each other in the second stint, probably Max was just keeping it on the track.
"So in my half empty glass perspective, there is still a lot of laptime to catch up.
"It’s simple, I think we’re lacking performance on a single lap and we’re lacking performance on the initial stages of the stint," added Wolff.
"So there’s something to understand and it’s not a silver bullet but it’s a few topics that play a role in overall performance.
"Second and third is a good result but we work tirelessly to win and there’s still a gap."
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