George Russell credits Mercedes’ ‘Hard Work’ behind the scenes after he took Pole Position during Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. This bodes well for the development of the W15.
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The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix delivered a Qualifying session to remember. George Russell and Max Verstappen crossed the finish line during Q3 with a shared lap time of 1.12.000. Nothing separated the pair, with the Pole Position being award to Russell for setting the timing first.
After Qualifying, interviewers asked the Brit to share his thoughts on the session. Mercedes found the session rewarding after making serious efforts to improve the W15 into a contender for consistent race wins and podiums.
Russell credits Mercedes’ ‘Hard Work’
Up until Canada, Lewis Hamilton achieved the last Pole Position for Mercedes at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. This has been a long time coming for the team as Russell noted.
He admitted, “It’s been a while since we’ve experienced this feeling, and you know, [there is] so much hard work going on behind the scenes at Brackley.”
With efforts to join the fight between Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari, the German team have felt that “all that hard work [behind the scenes] hasn’t been paying off” as they have struggled to find pace.
However, Russell now feels “these last two race weekends have shown [otherwise].” After a dominate FP3 session and further impressive map times made in FP1 and FP2, they have been the fastest all weekend.
Alongside crediting the team, he also credited teammate Hamilton who used the challenging weather conditions to test out his speed. Russell said, “Lewis was absolutely flying and he was well ahead of me and [I] had to look a lot into his day to try and understand what he was doing differently.”
He admitted that this “helped a huge amount” for him to create a lap time many struggled to beat.
While it came together for Russell where it mattered, it did not for Hamilton. The seven-time World Champion will begin P7 but with the pace of the W15 here, he is still in with a chance of a podium.
The W15’s ‘Sweet Spot’
Russell proudly shared his appreciation for the W15 this weekend, stating that “the car has been feeling awesome.”
When asked on where the car is better from previous appearances and even years, the British driver shared that it is “turning really nicely through the corners.” Understeer has been a struggle for Mercedes for a while, with both drivers complaining that this has impacted their races negatively.
It seems that understeer is no more, at least for this weekend, as the team are “dialling in that sweet spot right now.”
Will the team take their first win since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday?
Image Credit: Mercedes/LAP Images
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