11/06/2018
NEWS STORY
When Daniel Ricciardo rejoined the track ahead of his sole pit stop, the look on Toto Wolff's face back in the Mercedes garage said it all.
The realisation that the German team was staring into the face of defeat was further compounded when, following a few brief words with Wolff, Niki Lauda was seen to head out of the Mercedes garage.
While Valtteri Bottas finished a strong second, the fact is that not only did Lewis Hamilton lose the championship lead as Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a lights-to-early flag victory, but Montreal clearly signalled that Red Bull is now a force to be reckoned with.
Speaking to Austrian broadcaster ORF, in the aftermath, Wolff admitted that this had been a wake-up call for his team.
Asked if Bottas' second place, which promoted the Finn to third in the standings, was damage limitation, Wolff snapped: "Not at all.
"It is a shit result for us," he continued. "I have to put it like that. It is a strong track for us, but all weekend long we did little mistakes, from the beginning on.
"The only feeling I have is that we have to wake up," he continued. "We fall behind in every aspect. This is a track where we should have maximised points. It was not about performing damage limitation."
Asked if there would be fall-out, the Austrian admitted: "That's necessary...We will look at that internally."
Meanwhile, talking to Sky Sports, paid tribute to the job done by Ferrari, the team with which he won two of his titles.
"First of all we could not use our new engine, which is part of it," he said. "But we have to say that Ferrari as a package is unbelievable. The car is fantastic and the engine... even on fuel consumption they have been going like hell all through the race.
"I think we have to really work hard now. Red Bull was a surprise but in the end they were behind. So that is it."