Mercedes is approaching this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix as the start of a new Formula 1 season, team boss Toto Wolff claims.
The reigning champions begin the run to Abu Dhabi fully in command of both championships, but despite winning 10 of the first 12 races, Ferrari and particularly Red Bull have closed the gap.
In fact, since Austria, Max Verstappen has scored the most points of any driver, and the Mercedes boss only expects the competition to only get tougher.
"We're leading in both championships, but it doesn't feel that way," Wolff suggested in his Belgian GP preview.
Also Read:
- Hamilton says Mercedes mentality has allowed for prolonged F1 success
- Pirelli rejects the theory that 2019 tyres better suited Mercedes over rivals
- 2019 has 'exceeded expectations' at Mercedes, Wolff claims
"In the last few years, we saw teams perform very strongly after the summer shutdown, so we know we need to keep pushing.
"In that respect, we're approaching the start to the second half of 2019 more like the start to a completely new season.
"Once again, we need to make sure that we leave no room for error and keep raising the bar."
During the month-long break, Mercedes has been doing just that with the Austrian explaining the work that has gone on.
"Other team members were carrying the baton over the past weeks," he explained, adding most within Mercedes had "recharged their batteries".
"Our team members in Brixworth worked straight through the F1 summer break to improve the performance and reliability of our power unit.
"In Brackley, we used the relatively quiet days to do some work on our factory.
"It's great to come back from the summer break knowing that part of the team was still pushing flat out and we are grateful to our colleagues who kept the ball rolling while we were out of office."
The news of engine gains is interesting which rumours suggesting Mercedes have already made strong development with their 2020-spec unit.
Whether the progress made over the summer will help them compete with Ferrari at Spa and Monza will be a different story, however.
