MERCEDES ROCKED BY “UNBELIEVABLE” FERRARI

Lacklustre silver arrows prompts concern in canada

Angry Mercedes chiefs have vowed to double their efforts in this year’s Formula 1 World Championship fight after Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel took a dominant victory in Canada last weekend, and with it stole the points lead.

Mercedes lacked the outright pace of its Italian rival all weekend, with former points leader Lewis Hamilton struggling and finishing down in fifth.

The team has blamed a delayed upgrade and poor tyre choice for the slump, but has also conceded that Ferrari currently has the edge, with Niki Lauda saying: “the Ferrari package is unbelievable. We have to work really hard now.”

Mercedes bosses have issued a call for the team to double its efforts after it was trounced in Canada by Sebastian Vettel and his “unbelievable” Ferrari.

The Circuit Gilles-villeneuve was due to be one of Mercedes’ stronger venues, with a Silver Arrow having topped the order in each of the last three Canadian races during the V6 hybrid era. Lewis Hamilton was vying for a fourth victory in a row in Montreal – which would have equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of seven wins in the event.

However, both Mercedes lacked pace against the rejuvenated Ferraris. While Valtteri Bottas qualified second, the Finn couldn’t live with Vettel’s race pace and faded, while the German-driven Ferrari led every lap on its way to a third win of the year and a 50th career victory for Vettel.

While Vettel scorched clear, Hamilton struggled with power and cooling issues and was limited to fifth place, which meant he ceded the world championship lead to Vettel by a single point.

Mercedes’ non-executive chairman Niki Lauda said the result came as a culture shock after the race.

“We have to say that the Ferrari is unbelievable,” Lauda said. “The car is fantastic and the engine – and even on fuel consumption they have been going like hell all through the race.

“I think we have to work really hard now.”

Upgrade delay

Mercedes’ cause wasn’t helped when it was forced to abandon plans to run its upgraded engine on the eve of the event.

While Ferrari, Renault and Honda all brought upgraded power units, Mercedes announced on Wednesday night that it would delay the introduction of its ‘PU2’spec unit for both the works teams and its customer squads, citing a “quality issue”.

The new unit is now set to be introduced from the French Grand Prix onwards after undergoing further reliability work.

While Hamilton denied that his poor qualifying [fourth] was a result of the lack of upgrades, the age of his engine told in the race. The four-time world champion complained of a lack of power during the race, and had to make an early pit stop to open additional cooling vents when he began to suffer overheating.

Hamilton said he was relieved the unit didn’t fail entirely during the race. “I’m just so happy that I actually finished,” he said. “From the start I was down on power and