Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described the French Grand Prix as the team’s “best race” of 2019 after Lewis Hamilton’s most dominant win.
The Brackley-based outfit also scored a sixth 1-2 of the year as Valtteri Bottas held off Charles Leclerc for second and while there was frustration at the lack of competition, Toto doesn’t want his Mercedes to slow down yet.
“There are still 13 races to go, we can earn 44 points in every race, in total there are 576 points to earn so 140 is simply not enough,” the Austrian told Sky Sports.
“I am very happy with the team. Both the chassis and the engine function excellent and Lewis was also very good today. In that regard, this was our best race of the season.”
While all the attention was on Mercedes’ dominance at Paul Ricard and the lack of action as a result, Wolff, instead, took the opportunity to restart the debate on the Mistral chicane located halfway down the circuit’s famous long back straight.
“The tracks play a fundamental role,” he noted. “You can see we had a pretty good race in Montreal, and Paul Ricard has all the ingredients.
“It’s a fantastic place in the south of France, it doesn’t go any more glamorous. Maybe we just need to open up the straight and allow more slip-streaming.”
That, he continued, all ties in with the efforts to improve the show in 2021.
“[It’s] very important we get it right as we don’t want to leave loopholes open which circumvent (the rules),” he explained.
“We need to rewrite the rules. Take the good stuff out of what exists today and optimise it.”