“We were 13 seconds behind after 23 laps,” George Russell worried after “huge deficit in pace” compared to Red Bull and Ferrari
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George Russell
George Russell had a decent outing during the Sprint race for the Mercedes team but after the 30-minute shootout has sounded worried going ahead into tomorrow’s race.
The 23-year-old believes they were not able to keep up with Ferrari and Red Bull and this is something they need to work on overnight to have any chance of getting past the leading two teams.
While talking about his exploits at the Red Bull Ring, Russell said, “First, thank you to everyone in the garage to get the car ready today. It was a huge team effort, so it was good to get points on the board.“
The Brit is grateful to his team for the mega job that they did with his car after he crashed it during Friday’s qualifying session. It was a big job on the rear end of the W13 but the Mercedes crew somehow managed to put Russell’s car together before time.
However, George Russell was not able to make a huge impression during the Sprint race as he was not challenged from behind and the cars ahead of him were just way too quick for the Mercedes driver. Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, and, Max Verstappen disappeared into the distance and the Brit wasn’t able to do anything about it.
George Russell on the huge gap between him and the front running cars
The Sprint race was a very placid one as far as the front end of the grid was concerned, no one swapped places between the top four, and the only wheel-to-wheel action was seen between the Ferrari drivers.
George Russell’s W13 was not able to keep pace with the top 3 cars and while talking about it Russell said, “As for the performance, the gap was more than we were expecting. We were 13 seconds behind after 23 laps, so that’s nearly half a second per lap. We need to work overnight to understand why we dropped off the pace. Small things can make a difference – the tires weren’t easy to manage, and different approaches to downforce levels will play a part tomorrow.”
George knows that if Mercedes want to be on the podium on Sunday, then they have got another massive job on their hands, moreover, Russell has got Sergio Perez starting behind him and it is not going to be a walk in the park to keep the Mexican behind during the race.
Does Mercedes have a realistic chance of finishing on the podium in Speilberg tomorrow?
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)