George Russell: “Disappointing to see that at the top of the sport, the majority of teams still have issues with loopholes”
Starting 8th at Spa, George Russell was able to gain two positions during the Belgian Grand Prix this Sunday, but he also suffered from slipstreaming, just like Lewis Hamilton and the majority of other teams, according to him.
George Russell is satisfied with the performances achieved during a challenging weekend after the Belgian Grand Prix. He finished sixth in the race, gaining two positions after starting from eighth place due to a disappointing qualifying session on Friday. “In the last part of the race, I felt really strong on the soft tires. This weekend has been really demanding, I’m glad it’s over,” he told journalists after the race.
“Overall, it was a good race, both races were competitive, and we increased the gap with the third team (Aston Martin) in the championship,” he added. The British driver is determined to continue in this direction : “We are still focused on Red Bull to reduce this gap.”
Mercedes was able to rely on incidents suffered by McLaren, which has recently gained strength, with Lando Norris finishing just behind them and Oscar Piastri having to retire after a contact with Carlos Sainz on the first lap. “We are in a good position for the championship, it seems quite secure at the moment, we are simply focused on the goal of winning a race this year. We have had a good series of performances. It is often like this in motorsport : when everything is going well, things are a little easier, you don’t worry, the car is where it should be. I am confident that we will be strong in the second half of the season, we have some improvements coming after the break, I am convinced that we can further reduce this gap,” said George Russell.
Drawing inspiration from previous generations of Mercedes
Overall, he thinks that this weekend validated the upward direction taken by Mercedes in the previous races. “But we suffered from a huge amount of porpoising today,” he said, confirming the problems encountered by Lewis Hamilton. “Several teams as well, but maybe not as severely as us. It’s still a bit disappointing to see that at the top of the sport, the majority of teams still have porpoising issues,” he added, hoping that his team and the sport will be able to resolve this problem in the future.
Moreover, the one who wears the number 63 slipped that the team is already working very hard on the characteristics of the car for next year. To do this, “we are looking a lot at how the previous generations of cars were at Mercedes during the glorious years and we draw inspiration from it. They clearly had one of the best cars in history, it gives us indications on what we must do,” he explained.
He finished by indicating that he will now take two weeks off for the summer break, but “will certainly continue to reflect” on sports. “This break is necessary for everyone in sports, the first half of the season has been quite intense,” concluded the Englishman.
