The smiles and pats on the back seen in the Mercedes garage at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix are not only due to George Russell’s second podium of the season and Lewis Hamilton’s splendid comeback.
A nightmare officially ended during the weekend in Montmelò, which began last March in Bahrain in the pre-season test session. It was March 10, and for more than two months the team plunged into a black hole that challenged everything, as never before in the last ten years.
The W13 was jumping, regardless of everything the Brackley engineers tried to do for ten long weeks. Today, after the sixty-six laps of the Montmelò race, the porpoising crisis can be said to be officially over.
George Russell, third with the Mercedes in the parc fermé
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
There is still a long way to go to fight for the victory, but now it is no longer uphill and everything is back to being more ordinary. The third place conquered by Russell has a different flavor than the podium in Melbourne, especially for how George was able to confront Max Verstappen in a prolonged head-to-head.
For the first time, Russell was able to show who he is to the general public of Formula 1, and he confirmed himself to be very ‘tough’, somewhat reminiscent of the Max of the times when he had to race in defense without world ambitions.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18 and George Russell, Mercedes W13 in battle
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
The English driver had been waiting for this moment for a long time, he was keen to show that he is of the same ‘dough’ as Leclerc and Verstappen, and that the day in which he can have a World Championship car could be the match. It was a first taste of a scenario that we will see often.
“His driving was incredible – commented an enthusiastic Toto Wolff – the way he defended himself was perfect, and I am very proud and happy to have seen him ride this way. He is a great talent, he will become a star ”.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes AMG with Roger Federer
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Russell capitalized on everything he could, starting with a great start and a good race pace confirmed when he was on a free track. The only moment of tension came in the last two laps, when an alarm came from the pits for an overheating of the power unit.
At the same time an alarm was also sent to Hamilton (due to a water leak) but, while Russell was able to slow down by managing a very large margin, in Lewis’s case the order to ‘lift his foot’ cost him the fourth position in favor of Sainz.
Not good news for Hamilton, but it didn’t take away from him a single millimeter of the smile he gained lap after lap thanks to an exciting comeback.
On the first lap Lewis was forced to return to the pits due to a puncture triggered by a contact with Magnussen, and his race seemed in fact compromised.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75, overtakes Lewis Hamilton who was forced to slow down at the end
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
“Guys, will I stop and save the engine?” was the message he sent to the team, but the response was firm: “Stay on track, you can still go in the points”.
On the second lap Hamilton was nineteenth, 54 seconds behind the leader Leclerc and 51 seconds behind Russell. “I thought that squeezing an engine for a race and being out of the points was not a great idea – he later explained – but the team told me to go, and thank God I didn’t stop.”
The pace at which Hamilton has recovered has been impressive, and in perspective it is the most significant figure that Mercedes has achieved since the Spanish weekend.
“We have made a good step forward – confirmed Wolff – the third place obtained by George is a good result, but there is still a long way to go”.
The Mercedes team principal on the wings of enthusiasm goes further: “Can we fight for the world championship? Well, we bet we can, but to do that we need to have a car capable of finishing first and second. And I think we have reasons to believe that we can get there, it’s difficult, but not impossible. Today we saw that Ferrari did not bring home many points even if they should have, we must try to get back in the game ”.
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