We celebrate at home Mercedes for this much awaited and unexpected victory in Austria. George Russell he achieved the second success of his career after the one of a year and a half ago in Brazilwhen he crowned a great double in front of Hamilton and which seemed to relaunch the team of Brackley towards the summit, which however did not happen. Today however the Silver Arrows they are demonstrating that they are back to competing for important positions.
We remember in fact how the English driver was still steadily in third place, closely followed by Sainzbut kept at a safe distance, and took advantage of the incident of the day between Norris e Verstappencaused mainly by the exasperation of the three-time world champion, as also said by the team principal of McLaren Andrea Stella.
This one of George it is such a fortunate victory, returned to him perhaps almost four years later, when in Bahrain In the 2020replacing Hamilton per Covidwas deprived of success for having fitted the tyres of Botched in the last pit-stop. An unexpected joy, therefore, and perhaps for this reason even more beautiful for a pilot who seemed a little worn out by the teamgiven the rumors about the future, and that instead could relaunch its ambitions.
Mercedes, Russell confirms developments on the W15
The second success in Mercedes and in career of George Russell comes after a significant growth process of the W15: after a disastrous start to the season, in which the car was also fifth force, Brackley’s hard work is constantly bearing fruit, it is undeniable, and it is something that even in Ferrari should look carefully, because it is always better to start badly and arrive at the toprather than the other way around.
“It’s incredible, there are no other words to describe this victory – Russell said -. I saw Lando e Max fighting on the big screen and I was ten seconds behind them, an encouraging gap anyway. I knew that contact was possible, and in fact it went like this: I had to seize the opportunity at 100% and we did it. The team did an amazing job, we made huge strides since the beginning of the season. Max e Lando I’m ahead, it’s no secret, but we’re consistently in third place. We’re riding the wave in view of Silverstone“.
It’s a truth that Russell? We are obviously talking about the third constant position of the Mercedes. Well, in the last three seasonal releases, the Ferrari has always been behind, so we can point to it at the moment as the fourth force, without fear of being proven wrong, because at the end of the day, it is the results that count, it is the stopwatch that is the master, and therefore Maranello there is a great, great need to pedal.
Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton’s difficult Sunday
Returning home Mercedeswe must also take into account the weekend rather apathetic of Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion, who finished fourth, was anonymous for almost the entire Austrian weekend, and the race was also affected by two factors: the penalty for touching the entry line box and the damage to the floor from having violently touched the curbs, something that cost him around two and a half tenths per lap, and on a track like Spielberg’s that’s really a lot.
“I have to compliment George and to the team – Lewis tells us -. The whole team deserves this result, they have worked hard to improve the performance of the car, we are starting to get really close to the top places. As far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t a clean weekend: I suffered some damage in the initial stages and this compromised my race. Now I think about Silverstoneit will be a special event, I can’t wait to see the fans. The track should suit our car better, let’s see what we can do”.
He’s in jujube broth instead Wolff. Il team principal from the Mercedes he can only be very happy to have returned to victory after all this time, right from Brazil 2022at his home, but also of Red Bulland make a mockery of Christian Horneras we know, is always a source of happiness for Toto.
“We would have been happy with third place too, because it was in pace and highlights the progress of our car. There is still a lot to come in the next races, but we knew that our pace would not be enough to win. George he did a fantastic job, always staying at a very close distance to the first two and immediately seizing the opportunity that arose.”
“With regard to Lewisinstead, there is a lot of bad luck: first of all because he had to give back the position to Sainz after the start, and then for the damage sustained to the surface which cost him several tenths of a second. Aside from that however, he fought hard and drove a solid race to finish fourth. We are encouraged by the team’s performance on a track that is not usually our friend. We must continue like this to get closer and closer to the leaders.”
Author: Andrea Bovone
Images: Mercedes AMG F1 Team
