“Now we’ve found it” : George Russell claims that Mercedes have found the ‘foundation’ they were missing with the W13

“Now we’ve found it” : George Russell claims that Mercedes have found the ‘foundation’ they were missing with the W13

George Russell on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix

Mercedes were yet to compete with the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, but that shifted in Barcelona, with newly recruited Mercedes driver George Russell leading the race at one point as he battled to keep the RB18s at bay. The RB18 was inevitably too powerful for the W13, but Russell still finished at P3, clinching his second podium of the season.

Russell was pleased with the outcome, which he had to “truly fight” for, and acknowledges Mercedes has now arrived at a point where they can further push to achieve better results with the tricky W13. “Yeah, it was satisfying because we truly fought for it,” said Russell in a post-race interview.

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“I think we’ve now got a baseline to build upon and I think we’ve spent so long trying to find that true foundation of this car, and I think now we’ve found it and we can just keep finding performance. So you know we’re not there just yet, but we’re definitely in the mix and we can at least put up a fight with with the Red Bulls and Ferraris,” added the Briton.

Also Read: Lewis Hamilton unbothered about George Russell’s sector timing: ‘I only ever want to know the fastest’

George Russell sympathizes with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc

George Russell in his W13 at the Spanish Grand Prix
George Russell in his W13 at the Spanish Grand Prix

The young Mercedes driver went on to acknowledge the hard work that the employees at their Brixworth and Brackley bases have been putting in towards making the W13 more adaptable for him and Hamilton. He went on to mention that they’re definitely on the right track now with the W13.

Russell’s defence against reigning F1 world champion Verstappen was assisted by the Dutchman’s sporadic DRS issue, while Charles Leclerc retired early on in the race while leading smoothly due to a presumed power unit issue. Russell sympathised for both rivals, but believes his race demonstrated why it is critical to be in the correct position to leverage.

“I felt for Max to be honest, obviously DRS troubles. But I felt like we didn’t make it easy for him and put up a bit of a fight. Ultimately they had the pace on us today, sorry for Charles as well, but ultimately as we said before, you’ve got to be there at the end,” added Russell.

Also Read: ‘We can’t even make the fu**ing DRS work’: Max Verstappen rants furiously on the radio after a tough battle with George Russell

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