After difficult races for Mercedes on the streets of Monaco and Baku – both of which were won by Red Bull – the Silver Arrows were expected to hit back when F1 returned to the more conventional Circuit Paul Ricard.
“We’ve taken a bit of downforce out of the car, you can probably see by the size of the rear wing between us and Mercedes.
“This circuit – it’s been such a stronghold for Mercedes over the recent years, so if we can beat them here, then really we can beat them anywhere,” he continued.
“I think the great thing for us this weekend is we’ve got Checo up there as well, and you saw what a job he did in Baku two weeks ago.