Mercedes trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin has warned fans not to expect a repeat of the team's Barcelona success in Canada.

Its upgrade package finally given free rein, despite a shaky start to the Barcelona weekend, by late Sunday afternoon drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were leaving Aston Martin and Ferrari for dead, claiming the other two steps on the podium alongside championship leader, Max Verstappen.

However, as fans - F1, broadcasters and others - hope that the Barcelona revival signifies a resurgence for the German team and a threat to Red Bull's dominance, Shovlin has warned that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will present more of a challenge.

"The fact is that update kit works very well around circuits like Barcelona with a lot of high-speed performance," says the Briton in the team's latest video debrief.

"The car itself probably would have been okay there because we've been better at the fast circuits, the front-limited tracks, but we ended up with a really good balance, really good race pace.

"Where we're going to go next week, Montreal, is a very different circuit," he admits, "low-speed corners, quite a lot of straight-line full throttle, and we would expect more of a challenge there.

"So we're not thinking that we'll be going in nipping at the heels of Red Bull, we're going in there prepared for a battle with Ferrari, Aston Martin, maybe even Alpine."

Though this is not what many will want to hear, Shovlin admits that the upgrade package, which included a new front suspension, floor, and, of course, sidepods, has given the team a timely boost. Indeed, German betting sites have already priced in the odds in favour of Red Bull, at 1.32 for Verstappen to place first and are stacked against Mercedes with Hamilton to finish first, at 13.0.

"It was certainly really good fun to be part of that race," he admits, "to be able to get the double podium as well.

"We've had a few tough races recently," he concedes, "and while we've brought home a decent amount of points, it's nice to get both of the drivers back on the podium after a bit of a break.

"As for Montreal, again we're thinking it will be more along the lines of some of the earlier races where we're definitely in the bunch with Ferrari, with Aston, and now Alpine looks to have joined that group.

"But it's great racing there, it'll be good fun, and we're certainly going to be fighting to find every little bit of performance we can, because the way the grid stacks up now you can be P2, you can be P10, and there's only a few tenths in it.

"We're looking forward to more exciting racing but certainly we're aware that Canada is likely to be a bigger challenge than the Sunday we just had in Barcelona."