Russell fears that dolphin-ing might prevent Mercedes from being 100% at Silverstone
George Russell fears that the bounces of his W13 will handicap him this weekend at Silverstone. The British driver is wary of the fast corners, especially Copse, which he does not think he will be able to take flat out like in previous years.
Mercedes can’t stand the struggles anymore. With a W13 that is already much less dominant than its predecessors, the German team is also facing the issue of constant bouncing of the car.
If the intervention of the FIA during the last Grand Prix in Canada partly solved the problem, George Russell is still not confident. For the young Briton, the fast corners will be a challenge for Mercedes, especially “Copse”, turn number 9, which is usually taken at full speed.
« It surprised us in Barcelona that we didn’t bounce too much on the straight line, but then we arrived at the high-speed corners – turn 3 and turn 9 – and we all bounced in the corners », Russell explains to Autosport.
« If you watch our onboard camera during the qualifying sessions, or Ferrari’s, you can see the bumps in turns 3 and 9. Now, that was at 250km/h – Copse is at 300km/h, so it’s not going to be easy to drive. But I think there will be a number of teams in the same boat », adds the fourth-place driver in the standings.
Copse, the question mark for Mercedes
If Williams’ former driver took Copse flat out last year with a FW43B that was not very performant, he assures that his W13 will not allow him to do the same this season. « I’m sure I won’t do that this year, even though we have much higher quantities of high-speed downforce,” assures Russell. »
However, if other teams, especially Red Bull, who are not greatly affected by the dolphin effect, manage to take the famous turn 9 at Silverstone at full speed, it will be valuable tenths of a second gained against the Silver Arrows or against Ferrari who could be in a similar situation. To witness this, we will have to wait for the first practice sessions starting tomorrow at 2 pm.
To read also: The TV schedule and timings of the British Grand Prix
