Mercedes playing the long game and shift favourites tag to Ferrari

Mercedes have admitted not all of their problems with their car are going to be fixed in the short term as the world champions concede Ferrari are currently 2017's title favourites.

Buoyed by their first one-two race finish in seven years, Ferrari head into this weekend's Canadian GP in increasingly formidable shape, with the Scuderia holding a 17-point advantage over Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship.

Sebastian Vettel, with three wins from the opening six races, is 25 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings.


Although they have won the other three races, Mercedes have experienced persistent set-up problems with their W08 car and team chief Toto Wolff has insisted "we have to fight with all that we are worth" for every result as "you can no longer expect that when you look at a timesheet the two Mercedes will be right at the top".

"It's painful, but we are not the favourites for this year's championship," said the Mercedes boss.
"Everybody at the factories is working absolutely flat out to assess the current difficulties we are facing - to define our objectives, work with the data we have and then come up with the right solutions," said the Mercedes boss.