Mercedes Sporting Director Toto Wolff said on Wednesday (July 3) that driver safety must be paramount as Formula One attempts to deal with a tyre problem which blighted the British Grand Prix.

"I think we have some critical safety issues and they need to be sorted out. We want to be treated fairly like we try to treat the others fairly. We have accepted our penalty from the international tribunal but if it comes to safety I think the teams must be playing a role in determining what they need," he said.

"We must not forget that our competitors don't sleep and they must be taken very seriously Ferrari and Red Bull. We are on an upward slope, we have been the underdogs probably we still are and it's about building a sustainable longer term success in the team," he said.

"Well, the Nurburgeing is a very important race for us because it is our second home race. I guess we can show a good performance like we have seen in other races. It's about temperature I hope that we have average temperature so that it is not too warm and then we should be one of the contenders," he added.