Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Speaking with the press before the his home grand prix at Silverstone, Mercedes driver George Russell talked about his and his team’s efforts to tighten up their performance, bringing some aerodynamic upgrades in the form of a new front wing to the British Grand Prix as they attempt to chase down Red Bull this season and be ahead of Ferrari and Aston Martin.
Russell was cautiously optimistic: “I think we’re stepping in the right direction but I think the overall results will just be overshadowed by the inherent car performance.
“You’ve seen between all the teams this year, big swings in performance week-on-week. Even Red Bull to a degree, they have weeks where they’re finishing 40 seconds ahead and weeks where it’s only 15-20 seconds ahead so they’re still having fluctuations.”
Russell chalked these fluctuations to grip—first in the tyres, which he called “really sensitive, really difficult to get in the window” but also added that he expected this weekend’s set of Pirellis to be more favorable than last weekend’s as they’re bringing the hardest compounds in their range; and second, a recurring problem for Mercedes, ride height.
“If you’re developing slightly higher ride height, or slightly lower ride heights, there’s only, you can’t get the car in the right window for every corner type. So perhaps that is a reason for fluctuation. We don’t really have the answers, to be honest, as yet why that is. We’re just focused on ourselves, trying to make our car faster across the course of the season.”
Russell has been on a poor run of form recently as a lack of pace against his teammate and mistakes in Monaco and Canada have cost him dearly. The 25-year-old explained the mental process of getting back to his best.
“I think it’s important sometimes not to overthink things, go back to basics, work on the processes with the team. What I need as a driver to maximise my performance, what I’m looking for from the car. Just not overthinking things sometimes. I know that when I tick all of those boxes, I can beat anybody on this grid.”
