Mercedes tease F1 upgrades for Monaco Grand Prix after Barcelona improvement

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Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has said there are “new parts in the pipeline” after an impressive showing at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mercedes have grown into the new F1 season after a slow start, and although they remain off the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull, there were signs in Barcelona that George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could be getting back into contention.

Russell battled to a third-place finish while Hamilton fought from the back of the pack after a disatrous start to finish fifth, and Mercedes now plan to improve the car further before the next race in Monaco.

Shovlin said: “The most encouraging thing is the improvement in pace that we have seen this weekend; a lot of hard work has gone into understanding the issues and bringing parts to the track for this race. We can now see a route to develop our way out of this and back into a position where we can fight for pole and wins.

“We've got some unusual tracks coming up, starting with Monaco where we need to focus more on low-speed performance but we've got some parts in the pipeline that can hopefully help in that regard.

“After some tough months in Brackley and Brixworth, it was great to feel like we were racing again, we're determined to be part of the battle for these championships and today has given us belief that we can do just that."

Team principal Toto Wolff was bullish after the race and believes Hamilton, who is 64 points behind new championship leader Max Verstappen following the Dutchman’s third triumph in as many rounds at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, could fight his way back into the picture.

With 416 points still on the table and Mercedes suddenly back in the groove, Wolff is hopeful Hamilton can get back into the title hunt.

“That looked like a world championship-winning race car that Lewis was driving,” said Wolff. “His race pace was stunning and [without the first-lap incident] he would have challenged for the win.

“It reminded me of last year and the years before, when a car and driver are really on the top of their game. The race was so important for his morale and our morale, too.

“The car was like previous seasons, where you are more than 30 seconds behind the whole field, and you come all the way to the front and near the podium. That is very encouraging and shows that we’ve made another step.”