Both Mercedes will have new front wing and “other development items” in Canada

Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will have Mercedes’ updated front wing at this weekend’s F1 Canadian Grand Prix, as well as “other development items”.

Mercedes introduced a new front wing design in Monaco but only had one version, which was given to Russell following a proposal from his teammate Hamilton, who opted to stick with the previous specification.

Team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed both drivers will run the latest iteration of the wing in Montreal and expects it to “offer greater benefit on upcoming circuits”.

“We had an encouraging weekend in Monaco,” Wolff said. “We continued to make solid progress with our car, improving its overall balance and taking a step closer to those ahead. That progress isn't yet showing in terms of positions but if we can continue to close the gap to the fastest cars, we know it will in due course.

"Both drivers will have the updated front wing in Canada, plus some other development items for this event. It offered a small lap time gain around the tight streets of the Principality and should offer greater benefit on upcoming circuits.”

Russell and Hamilton finished fifth and seventh respectively in Monaco, with Mercedes occupying fourth place in the constructors’ championship standings.

Mercedes are already 180 points behind Red Bull, while they trail customer team McLaren by 88 points.

“The picture at the front of the field is incredibly competitive,” Wolff added.

"The field has compressed, and we are under no illusions that others will continue to improve. We will have to continue to work hard and diligently to get ourselves into the mix.”

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin suggested the team would probably not feel the true benefit of the new wing until Barcelona.

“There’s a reason teams don’t bring upgrade kits to Monaco which is the very low speed nature of the circuit,” Shovlin explained.

“The fact it’s so busy, the short straights, it’s very hard to evaluate anything. All the data we have seen though says it was delivering performance. It was bringing a benefit. In terms of how the car was feeling, George was happy with that and he could feel it was a step in the right direction.

“We’re definitely happy with what we have seen to date. We will learn more from Montreal and particularly when you get to a track like Barcelona with a wider cornering speed range, you can really start to learn about it there.”