Lewis Hamilton and George Russell must have felt a bit relieved on Sunday afternoon (June 4). After a difficult start to the season, the Silver Arrows made an impressive return to Barcelona and were able to enjoy the first double podium of the Formula 1 season.

The main reason for this success lies in the updates that the Formula 1 team has planned in recent weeks. These should be used for the first time in Imola. Due to the failure, the updates celebrated their premiere in Monaco. A good team result has already been achieved in Monaco with fourth and fifth place – in Barcelona things went even further.

Formula 1: First double podium of the season

It certainly wasn’t an easy week at the start of the season: instead of competing with Red Bull for the World Cup, they sometimes slipped to fourth in the standings – that can’t be the claim of the Silver Arrows. It was clear to everyone that they had to upgrade and convert over the course of the season to be able to at least take second place behind Red Bull.

This one did. Mercedes have tried a lot in recent weeks, changed a lot and modified the car a bit. Already three weeks ago they wanted to present the first major updates. Due to the cancellation of the race at Imola, Barcelona was the first track after Monaco where the update result could be seen. And so it was: second and third place behind Max Verstappen – double podium for Mercedes.

++ Formula 1: Turnaround for the F1 star – did ER prevent him from being expelled? ++

A resounding success for Toto Wolff and his team. You won’t have much luck against Verstappen and Red Bull this year, but it looks like you could once again become the second force behind Red Bull in the long run. You could move up to second place in the Constructors’ Championship and celebrate a good result. Nevertheless, it is important to confirm this in future races.

“Now we have a good racing car”

Of course, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was visibly happy with the good weekend in Barcelona. “We made decisions to go in a different direction, changed so many parts. It was a risky decision, but now we have a good racing car,” said the Formula 1 official. Nevertheless, he remained realistic and tried to classify the result. “We have to be realistic with our expectations. There is still a long way to go to catch up with Red Bull and today the temperatures also helped us: it was neither too cold nor too hot and the car was absolutely in the right window,” explains the Viennese driver.

No more news:

In Canada and Austria, it would now be shown how the update would work. “These times have always been difficult for us in recent years,” Wolff said. Nevertheless, Hamilton, Russell and Co. can now travel to Montreal with confidence. Barcelona’s result should give the Silver Arrows a boost.