George Russell Exposes Red Bull And Ferrari
George Russell Exposes Red Bull And Ferrari
Mercedes were one DRS not faltering away from having their best weekend this season. As we all know by now, George Russell shocked everyone on the grid and everyone watching by getting pole position at the very last second during qualifying. But while he was on top of the world, his teammate Lewis Hamilton would abort his final qualifying lap due to a DRS issue leaving him having to start at P7 on race day. But race day would be totally different for the 2.
So, is Mercedes officially back in the title hunt? Is George the future face of Mercedes? And did George just expose Red Bull and Ferrari? Well, stick around to find out. But before we get started, consider subscribing to the channel so you don’t miss out on our latest uploads. Now that’s out of the way, let’s get into it.
Mercedes’s team boss has described the team’s season and their battles with their W13 as something that oscillates between depression and exuberance. The team expected their out-of-the-box design to be the difference maker in their quest for their 9th world title but thus far have no race wins to show for it. But that isn’t even the biggest thing that has frustrated the team, the frustrating thing is that the W13 has shown glimpses of what it can be once in the right setup and racing on the perfect race track like at the Spanish and British Grand Prix where the W13 looked like a worthy competitor against the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari.
And this past weekend, the team would also have another rollercoaster ride for their emotions after a streak of dismal outings during the practice sessions, George Russell would shock the world with his maiden pole position beating out by 100s of a second. Toto would share the world’s shock after George’s pole saying:
“It’s not that we have no clue why the car has been fast. We had directions during the season where we believed it would unlock the potential of the car, and it didn’t. So here we have another direction. And that was very quick on the stopwatch. But I don’t want to have another false dawn and we come to the realisation tomorrow and Spa that it didn’t reap the benefits that we were hoping to have. In that respect, let’s just wait and see where this is going. It is one of the days where against all the tendencies of the season where we’ve been really bad in qualifying, but performing well on the Sunday, we’ve actually unlocked some potential in the car,” said Wolff. And if we can prove that our race pace hasn’t suffered, then I would see us back in a solid position.
Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell would also share that the morale within the team was at its lowest after Friday’s practice session where the team had it’s worst outing yet this season. George would share:
“It was probably our toughest Friday of the whole season. We were all here until 11pm, scratching our heads and morale was pretty down. And we felt pretty lost. We’ve been closing the gap but obviously it was a disastrous day. We believe that there were many reasons as to why, and they all added up to making us well over a second off the pace. But that felt like we were being a bit generous. Then to have a day like Saturday …maybe P1 on pure pace [was out of reach], obviously Max had a bit of an issue, who knows. But we definitely turned it around. And we’re probably back to where we kind-of hope to hope to be.
While Lewis on the other hand would say:
We don’t know where our pace all of a sudden just came from, it came from nowhere. That’s a huge positive. I don’t know where our race pace is going to be now, because yesterday it was slow in both [sessions]. But maybe all of a sudden, we found something. If we have then great.
And as the lights went out on race day, George would show some good pace and defensive skills as he was able to fend off both Ferraris for 30 laps until the battle of strategies began which saw George end up at P3, his teammate Lewis battle through the field and George at P2 and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen winning it all. Toto would comment on the team’s performance saying:
“At the beginning it looked a little bit like we were in the race, but it was still a long shot for us to win. We were second and third on the road today and, who knows, if Lewis would have started at the front it would have been a fun battle. It’s two good results [including France] that we can rely on, that we can look at the data and, as we discussed before, Friday was such a disaster so at least we know what not to do, and we know what to do that made it better.”
And while George showed his prowess and fight in the earlier stages of the race, it would be Lewis Hamilton during his last stint on a set of softs that would set blistering lap times and at one point seemed to be chasing down Max Verstappen for the lead. Lewis would share his take on his and the team’s performance after the race saying:
“If we had got our lap yesterday we would have been on the front row, and it perhaps would have been a different result. If the DRS was OK we would have been in the run for the win. We have found something and we have been able to get a little bit closer and been able to compete with the Ferraris. I honestly think in a straight-out race we might not be that far behind Max. So I am really excited about the second half of the season and proud of my team for not giving up. The other guys still have a bit of an edge but we are clearly closing the gap and this is just an amazing way to go into the break knowing that we have this performance.”
On the other hand, George would give a prediction for the team for the 2nd half of the season where he would also expose Red Bull and Ferrari saying:
“There’s no doubt we are making progress as a team. At the start of the season, we were finishing a minute behind the lead. Now it’s 10 seconds in the last couple of races. If we can continue on that path, we will definitely be in the hunt. Spa is going to be interesting. There is some changes to some of the regulations which may bring other teams towards us. I think we as a team have a lot of confidence in ourselves and faith that we are doing a great job and there’s no reason we can’t be in the mix. There is no doubt Ferrari and Red Bull have pushed the regulations in that regard and we have respected it as the regulation was intended. There’s no guarantee that it would bring them closer to us. We know if it was on our car it would make us slower. There’s no guarantees, every car is different but it’s not going to help them that’s for sure.”
Team boss Christian Horner would also be asked about the upcoming Technical Directive’s that are set to take place in Spa, to which he would reply with:
“Ferrari still has a quick car and Mercedes are coming back at us. Maybe we don’t need to TD in Spa. The technical directive has no effect on us. We need quick clarification on what the rules are for 2023. I hope as early as this week. It’s ten past midnight for next year and Cinderella has already left.”
And there you have it guys, so what do you think? Will Mercedes be back in the fight once the season resumes? Or was this just another spike that the team won’t be able to replicate? And what did you think of George’s comments on Red Bull and Ferrari? Will the 2 see their performance plummet after the directives are put into action? Let us know in the comment section below and as always, don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t!
