George Russell admits that Lando Norris’ pace was a ‘big surprise’ for Mercedes at the Austrian GP
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were outperformed by Lando Norris at the Austrian GP.
George Russell (image via Metro UK), Lando Norris (image via Auto motor und sport)
The Mercedes F1 team had an underwhelming race at the Austrian GP. The Silver Arrows faced stiff competition from two of its customer teams, McLaren and Aston Martin. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell failed to outperform Lando Norris over one lap and race despite McLaren struggling at the start of the year. Russell opened up about the unexpected performance from Norris and the Woking-based team.
The 25-year-old believed that the Austrian GP was a step backward for Mercedes with a drop in pace compared to rivals. Russell admitted that the Silver Arrows had not expected McLaren’s Norris to outperform the Brackley-based team at the Red Bull Ring. He said, “Lando and McLaren were a big surprise for us, they clearly got it right.”
Lando Norris out-qualified at least one Mercedes in Qualifying and the Sprint shootout. The McLaren driver battled it out against Hamilton for several laps in the race before securing a top 5 finish at the race after out-racing the two Silver Arrows. As such, Russell acknowledged that the team needs to look over its performance. He continued, “We just need to understand why we didn’t this weekend.”
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George Russell insists Mercedes is looking for the right balance
The British driver was adamant that the Mercedes W14 was a quick car under optimal conditions. However, the team has work to do after its disappointing results in the last two races. As the car has worked well on circuits like Barcelona this season. George Russell stated, “It’s just getting the right balance… Going into the last two weekends, we’re were not being quite as competitive.”
It seems that the Austrian GP might be a wake-up call for the German team after being outdriven by a McLaren. The Silver Arrows have been fighting over second place in the Constructors’ championship with Aston Martin throughout the season. Hence, Mercedes cannot afford to lose out to another of its customer teams on the grid.
Thus, George Russell has expressed the team’s surprise over the pace of Lando Norris in the McLaren. The Woking-based team brought new updates that worked well at the Red Bull Ring. However, it remains to be seen if the Silver Arrows have an answer to McLaren’s new-found pace in the next round at Silverstone.
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Armaan Agarwal
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