Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has labelled the Silver Arrows' recent performances as 'not acceptable' after a couple of tough races in the last two rounds of the Formula 1 season.

The current reigning champions are facing arguably their toughest fight in the turbo-hybrid era with Red Bull providing a genuine challenge for both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles.

Indeed, the Silver Arrows left Azerbaijan pointless after Lewis Hamilton's mistake at the restart following on from Max Verstappen's puncture and subsequent crash, whilst Valtteri Bottas' weekend was a rather non-event.

This, of course, came after a Monaco Grand Prix where Bottas had to retire and Hamilton could only finish seventh, so the plan will be to try and bounce back at the French Grand Prix in just under two weeks from now.

Certainly, that is what Toto Wolff will be demanding of his team with him labelling recent showings as 'not acceptable' when speaking to the BBC after the race around the streets of Baku.

"There's just so much we need to improve that I just want to get on it right now to make sure we are able to compete for this championship," he said.

"We can't continue losing points like we did in Monaco and here. It's just not acceptable, for all of us.

"We just need to be the best of us, the best that we have, and we haven't given the drivers a competitive package this weekend - far from it. It is not only the incident at the end that frustrates, it is overall not meeting our expectations, all of us together - Lewis, the engineers, myself, everyone in the team."

Mercedes are certainly up against it right now but they are champions for a reason and you can guarantee that they will respond.

The Paul Ricard circuit is usually one where they are strong and so they'll be eager to get to the French Grand Prix and ensure that is the case.