Mercedes still fastest despite lost points – Wolff

Epstein biding his time for new COTA contract

LONDON, July 17, (RTRS): Formula One champions Mercedes made mistakes in the last three back-to-back races but they still have the fastest car, according to team boss Toto Wolff.

World champion Lewis Hamilton won in France last month but suffered his first retirement in two years at the following race in Austria and was second in his home British Grand Prix after going from pole position to last.

The Briton heads to Hockenheim for this weekend’s German Grand Prix with an eight-point gap to make up on Ferrari’s

Vettel won in Silverstone while Red Bull’s 20-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen took his first win of the season at his team’s home race in Austria.

The triple header was a first for Formula One, the scheduling aimed at avoiding a clash with the World Cup final in Russia.

Mercedes started all three races from pole position but Hamilton and team mate Valtteri Bottas scored only 61 points between them, compared to 98 for championship leaders Ferrari and 65 for Red Bull. Hockenheim is the 11th race of the 21-round season and Mercedes have won just three times, compared to six by the same stage last year.

“We’ve had a decent first half,” Wolff said. “On the one hand, we’ve left points on the table and had to do damage limitation

In this July 8 file photo, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany (center front), leads at the start and followed by Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland (left), and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain (right), during the British Formula One Grand Prix at the Silverstone racetrack, Silverstone, England. (AP)

more often than we would have wanted.

“On the other hand, we still scored a good amount of points, both drivers have shown strong performances and we have a fast car. So there are many reasons why we’re looking forward to the second half of the 2018 season.”

Hockenheim did not host a race last year but Hamilton won there in 2016.

Meanwhile, Circuit of the Americas (COTA) chairman Bobby Epstein believes he has time on his side when it comes to negotiating a new contract for the US Formula One Grand Prix in Austin. The Texas track’s existing deal, agreed with Formula One’s former supremo Bernie Ecclestone, runs to 2021 with an annual escalator clause.

COTA chairman Epstein would like to secure better terms from the sport’s new US-based owners Liberty Media, as do other promoters in the global series who have long complained that high hosting fees make it hard to turn a profit.

Liberty’s eagerness to add a race in Miami, possibly as soon as next year, could see a change to the old business model with media reports suggesting that deal will have shared risk and revenues.

“I think that everyone that wants to be here is here and people that aren’t here want to be here,” Price said Monday after practice. “It’s one of those events that is highly important on the calendar. Every year everyone is improving and getting a lot better, so each year it’s going to get better and better.”

This is Price’s fourth Governor’s Cup. He won it in 2015 and was fourth each of the past two years.

The 22-year-old Aussie is No. 1 in