“We are ‘three or four races’ from victory battle,” George Russell realistic despite Mercedes’ comeback of sorts in Spain
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George Russell on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix
Mercedes had a hugely impressive weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at this past weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Team Principal, Toto Wolff had warned ahead of the race that their car was more of a ‘race car than a qualifying car’ and his words certainly rang true, with the car delivering and having great pace for the vast majority of the race.
After the race, Wolff had nothing but praise for the drivers, and especially for Hamilton. Wolff felt that Hamilton might have been in the mix for the race win, if not for his collision with Kevin Magnussen, where they both touched tires and got a puncture, relegating them to the bottom of the field.
“We saw Lewis storming to the front with same-age tires and then we realised there’s something to learn here, and then suddenly we unlocked the potential by just tweaking things on the [pit] stop.”
Indeed, after Max Verstappen had fixed his DRS issues, it did not take him much time to overtake George Russell, even though Russell had managed to keep him behind for a few laps through some amazing defensive heroics. But Lewis Hamilton showed a lot of pace towards the end of the race and overtook Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for 4th place.
Unfortunately, both drivers suffered from a water leak issue during the final laps, which meant that Hamilton had to concede the position to Sainz. He even had to lift and coast a good amount to prevent a DNF. He eventually finished in 5th place, and George Russell finished 3rd, on the podium.
Despite these woes during the final stages, Mercedes looked extremely promising during the race. It was an especially great turnaround for Lewis Hamilton, who had earlier wanted to retire after his collision with Magnussen on lap 1, saying that he wanted to save the engine and that ‘what’s the point?’ On this, Wolff said:
“But it’s still valuable mileage, we are never giving up anyway. And at the end, I mean, his race pace was stunning here. He would have raced for the win.”
Also Read: Tempo at Mercedes has shifted: “World title is still possible”
Russell does not feel Mercedes are there yet
To most people, Mercedes look to be right back in the fight at the top, and some would back them for an even better time at Monaco this weekend. This is an especially exciting prospect as Mercedes’ porpoising issues seem to be all but gone (or at least dramatically reduced) and now they can focus on the development of the rest of the car.
However, George Russell does not feel as strongly about their prospects for this weekend. Instead, he is cautiously optimistic about the future. He backed the team to bring back the performance, and to get to the lofty highs of previous seasons during the Hybrid era.
“I believe Mercedes are the best in the business and if anyone can solve these issues and bring the performance back, we can as a team. I’ve been seeing how the team have come together through these difficult moments and being able to find this solution for one is an achievement in itself. But now I truly believe we can just start throwing a lot of performance onto this car.”
Russell believes that it will be at least 3 or 4 more races till they can compete with the two teams at the top.
“I think it will still be a good three, four races before we start to truly compete on the same level as them (Red Bull and Ferrari) but we are definitely slightly more in the mix.”
While Red Bull and Mercedes had fantastic weekends in Spain, this was not the case for the former frontrunners, Ferrari. Technically, they did have a great overall weekend, as Leclerc topped all three qualifying sessions, qualified on pole position, and was leading the race for 28 laps until an issue with his power united caused him to lose power, which forced him to retire while comfortably in the lead.
Carlos Sainz also had a tough race, where he started 3rd and then dropped down out of the points in a few laps due to a gust of wind. However, he eventually climbed his way back up to P4. Both drivers would be feeling like they had more to give.
Mercedes will be hoping to close the gap towards Ferrari (and Red Bull) with even more points in Monaco. There is also a possibility of rain during the race, while will make for an even more exciting – or perhaps, chaotic prospect.
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