Mercedes Chief Technical Officer James Allison admitted that the team “tempered” their Australian Grand Prix celebrations for Lewis Hamilton’s second place podium, due to George Russell’s lap 18 retirement.
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After the first 2 races, it looked all doom and gloom for Mercedes. It looked like it could take a while before we saw a second place podium for the team. But Mercedes surprised everyone by being on form during Qualifying and the race having found what proved to be a good setup during Free Practice.
Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell looked in good form for podium positions. With George actually leading the race at one point. Sadly on lap 18, Russell’s PU decided it no longer liked being an engine and preceeded to burst into pretty impressive looking flames and smoke.
“Overall, a sense of quiet satisfaction that we have moved the car forward that, from a performance point of view, we probably got as much as it is able to give right now.
“That happiness of course is tempered by the disappointment that we only got one car to the flag and that George was not able to show what he was capable of in the car on race day, having performed very strongly up to that point in the weekend.
“We didn’t have huge breakthroughs, but we moved forward a little bit. We put a small amount on the leaders Red Bull, and we are starting to get on terms with, and maybe just nose a whisker in front of, the Ferraris and the Aston Martins.”
“It was a really good drive, fantastic result for us to get a second place on merit with the gap to the front being much reduced compared to the previous races,” Allison added.
“A good outcome for a team that is working extremely hard to both get the most out of this car every weekend and to make sure that the car is improving weekend on weekend which, so far, we have been able to do.”
James Allison on the Mercedes Weekend Debrief Video
Lewis Hamilton will be happy with bringing home a second place trophy and probably quite important for him, overtaking his teammate in the championship.
The team are keen to admit that the hard work is not over, but they will take away the positives from the surprise performance found on the W14.
Although the race threw up surprises and a record 3 red flags, the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton was in second place on merit. He and the team would have rightfully deserved their Australian Grand Prix celebrations.
Do you think the momentum will continue swinging in their direction when we head to Baku for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of this month?
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Featured image Lewis Hamilton, Australian Grand Prix Celebrations. Courtesy of XPB Images.