According to George Russell, the recent upgrades on the Mercedes’ W15 have resulted in the car feeling the best it has all season.
The upgrades Mercedes has brought to Imola have been met with George Russell’s approval, with the British driver qualifying sixth.
At the conclusion of qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Imola circuit, Russell secured the top position among the Mercedes drivers and will start from sixth place on Sunday.
George Russell: Mercedes upgrades ‘directionally correct’
For this weekend’s event at Imola, Mercedes introduced several upgrades for the W15. These upgrades focused on enhancing the diffuser and rear floor by making adjustments to the floor body and fences, aiming to improve local aerodynamic loads.
The downforce levels and efficiency for the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari have been enhanced through revisions made to the rear and beam wing. The specific adjustments made to the beam wing focus on improving the airflow dynamics between the upper wing and diffuser.
McLaren made some adjustments for the Miami race, and other prominent teams like Red Bull, Ferrari, and Aston Martin also introduced updates. Despite this, Russell’s qualifying time was just half a second slower than Verstappen’s pole position time and four-tenths behind the McLarens.
Russell expresses confidence in the upgrades that have guided Mercedes towards the correct development direction, commending the exceptional handling of his car after the session.
In response to a question from PlanetF1.com, he expressed that the car is experiencing its best performance this season, particularly on a demanding circuit like this.
“I am confident that we are heading in the right direction.”
“Numerous individuals are bringing improvements, and McLaren introduced their upgrade a few races back, which has proven to be highly effective for them.”
Aston Martin introduced an upgrade this weekend, but unfortunately, it is not delivering satisfactory results for them.
This demonstrates the challenging and intricate nature of the situation for everyone.
“But it is essential to have faith in our ability to improve and progress in the correct path.”
George Russell ‘half a kilo too heavy’ for Imola GP
Russell, who narrowly missed securing the fifth fastest time in qualifying, disclosed that he has slightly exceeded his personal weight target for the weekend. This could have potentially affected his performance and led to him missing out on a better position.
He said, “I was filled with immense joy and felt incredibly empowered during the qualifying session.”
The highest possible position was P6. It is consistently frustrating when it is in such close proximity to the car in front.
“I’m realizing that I’m half a kilo overweight this weekend. It may not seem significant, but that extra weight could have bumped me up to P5, possibly even P4 on the grid after Oscar Piastri’s penalty. I’m attributing that one grid position to the sandwich I had for lunch.”
“I derived immense satisfaction from that lap as it felt exceptionally well-optimized. The experience was incredibly powerful, and the car performed exceptionally well.”
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Regarding whether he believes Mercedes has made significant progress in their development and can now begin closing the gap to the front, Russell mentioned that he and the team aim to replicate McLaren’s accomplishments. McLaren successfully transitioned from being one of the slowest cars on the grid to becoming one of the fastest.
He stated that we are aware of our current location and finds McLaren’s accomplishments quite impressive.
“Their progress has been remarkable. Currently, they truly appear to be the swiftest team, which serves as a great motivation for others.”
This sport is incredibly competitive and extremely intricate.
“We are aware of our mistakes and it is unfortunate that we have made too many of them in the past few years. We now have a clear understanding of how we need to rectify the excessive measures we took during this winter, but we are uncertain about the outcome.”
When pressed for an explanation of his comment regarding the team’s overcompensation in the design of the W15, Russell clarified that the characteristics had drastically shifted from one extreme to the opposite end in terms of the overall feel.
He stated that he had mentioned the previous year that there was a single problem: all the modifications made had gone excessively in the opposite direction.
“There is always a perfect balance to be found in this sport, and we are still searching for it.”
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