Russell used his experience with bad F1 cars to collaborate with Hamilton in improving the W13
Georges Russell had to deal with a car that had complex behavior when he joined Mercedes at the beginning of 2022. However, the young British driver was able to adapt fairly quickly to the temperamental W13.
The new recruit of the German team spent three seasons at the back of the pack with Williams and gained solid experience with more complex cars to exploit their limits. George Russell’s strong and consistent start to the season, facing a struggling Lewis Hamilton who had trouble finding the right setups on his car, demonstrates the young English hopeful’s significant adaptability.
George, coming from Williams, I think his experience there probably put him in a good position to take care of the car we were driving and try to qualify for the beginning of the year, claims Andrew Shovlin, the head of ground engineering at Mercedes, to Autosport.
Despite George Russell’s faster adaptation, the two British drivers from the German team have combined their feedback to improve the settings of the W13 throughout the season. There have been significant improvements across the championship, including a victory by George Russell at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
What was nice to see almost immediately was that both of them were working to improve the team’s ranking.
The way they worked together, the way they were happy to share the workload – the number one goal was to improve the car, not to argue over who would finish fifth and who would finish sixth.
