Toto Wolff braced for Ferrari challenge 'for the rest of the season'

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has warned that Ferrari will be a constant threat across the remainder of the season, after the Scuderia has taken two wins from the last three weekends.

Mercedes had comfortably the strongest package at the start of the season, but this advantage has been steadily eroded since that point, with Ferrari now thought to have the best chassis.

At Silverstone, Charles Leclerc was in control of the British Grand Prix, but had Kimi Antonelli charging up to his gearbox, with the pair set to do battle with a handful of laps remaining. However, this threat was ended when a wheel cover failure - the latest in a series of problems for Mercedes -  forced Antonelli into a further two pit stops, with the Italian eventually finishing outside of the points.

Asked if he had been surprised by Ferrari's performance at Silverstone, Wolff told media, including Crash.net, "We need to look at ourselves. They said before the weekend that they were going to be lacking energy at this track. They haven't. 

"They were a strong competitor, and this is to be expected now for the rest of the season."

While Ferrari has found form with a win apiece for Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, George Russell has also seen an upturn in results. 

Scoring his first win in Austria since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the Briton has closed the gap at the top of the drivers' standings to 25 points, recovering from what had been beginning to look like a unasailable position. 

Russell had berated his luck in those opening rounds, with safety car interuptions and reliability issues limiting his points income.

"You need to make your own luck," added Wolff. "And I think at Silverstone, he just held on to a car that he didn't feel was good. At the end, Max had the accident; Lewis wanted to go for the win and pitted, and that hopefully has given [Russell] a bit of positive momentum."