Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has insisted the Silver Arrows aren’t looking at McLaren with “envy” following their rise up the F1 standings over the last year. McLaren struggled during the early part of the 2023 season but have improved their car and are now competing for Grand Prix victories.

And Wolff said: “I think it’s a fantastic recovery story. When you look at where McLaren was 12 months ago, I think they barely got out of Q1 and now they’re literally fighting fair and square for race victories.

“First of all, why I love the sport is the stopwatch never lies, and they have done a good job, and we have to have respect [that] from how they’ve done things. More competition at the front is good for the sport and it’s good for everyone, so I’m not looking at that with some envy. On the contrary, I’m looking at that and saying, ‘This is what we need to achieve, because they’ve been able to do that.’”