Mercedes did not have much less the best start to the season possible. Despite the fact that they have managed to take flight at the end, the start was marked by a single-seater lack of speed and with an excess of ‘porpoising’ that made suffer, and not exactly a little, to Lewis Hamilton.
It did “less damage” to George Russell, and the German brand is aware of the differences between two drivers called to win races… and to know whether to fight among themselves for a World Cup.
But at the beginning both one and the other had to really fight with their own car, and in Mercedes are aware that both faced the situation differently.
“When we had a problematic car, Hamilton used his experience to help us improve the car. He moved us forward as a team,” said James Vowles, Mercedes’ director of strategy.
And about Russell, it is also clear: “This year he has fought against the best in the world. At the beginning he was more focused on integrating into the team and learning, and he got results that benefited him.”
At the brand they are more than happy with George’s first year on the car: “He is one tenth of where Lewis was in qualifying. In the race, his pace was very strong.”
“He adapted very well. Very quickly. For him it was a big step, because he came from Williams. I think they all did an incredibly good job,” Vowles said.
