Mercedes expected to 'eat up' McLarens after Safety Car period

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was convinced that an easy double podium finish was on the cards for his team in the British Grand Prix given its tyre advantage over McLaren after the race's Safety Car period.

During the race's neutralization that started on lap 33, McLaren opted to put Lando Norris, like Oscar Piastri a few laps earlier, on a set of hards.

Mercedes on the other had already switched George Russell to the medium compound while Lewis Hamilton was called in for a set of used softs.

When the race resumed, with Max Verstappen leading from Norris and Hamilton, there was speculation that both Mercedes drivers would make minced papaya of their McLaren rivals.

But Norris and Piastri valiantly defended their positions on the restart and in the following laps until their hard tyres switched on.

• Read also: Hamilton marvels at McLaren's 'rocket ship'

"To be honest when the Safety Car was deployed I was pretty sure, if not convinced, that we would be eating up the McLarens and finish with a P2 and P3 or maybe even challenge up the road," said Wolff after the race. "So you see just how strong their car was.

"We could have had a go in the first few laps, but they both raced a very strong hand and with their efficiency and top speed through the high-speed corners and on the straights there was just no way in passing them."

Russell was equally surprised by the McLaren's pace on the hard rubber and absolutely convinced that the soft tyre was the optimal strategy.

"I thought it was going to be clear cut, Lewis and I P2 and P3 - see you later," the Briton said. "I couldn't believe how well they turned on the tyres.

"Perhaps if they put the Soft on their car it may not have worked the same way as it worked on ours. Equally if we had the Hards on, it probably wouldn't have worked the same way as it did on their car.

"But Medium/Hard was definitely the wrong strategy, the Softs were certainly the best tyre. They were a good one-and-a half to two-tenths ahead of us."

Up until last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Mercedes only had Ferrari and Aston Martin to contend with. Russell believes that following its most recent upgrades, McLaren is now also a force to be reckoned with in the fight behind Red Bull.

"I see no reason why [McLaren] shouldn't be up there now," said Russell.

"We've come from the Red Bull Ring which is a very different circuit to Silverstone, they were a small step ahead of us on both occasions so I don't know how they've found this much performance.

"We don't tend to focus too much on our competitors, we just need to keep focusing on ourselves.

"It gives me inspiration that it can be possible [to catch up], but we need to try and turn it up."

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