After securing the front row at Silverstone, Mercedes’ British drivers are gearing up for the Grand Prix. Rain might be a factor in the race, so George Russell and Lewis Hamilton discussed their chances under different conditions.
Russell, starting from pole position on Sunday, shared his thoughts: “I think, if anything, we actually geared up slightly more for the race, which is normally a trade-off you’d always take. You can qualify P4 and get into the lead on lap one, or vice versa. It feels so great for us to be here now, but the race start, things can change very quickly.”
He emphasized that their team usually prepares their car more towards Sunday. Feeling positive about their setup this weekend, he said: “So we’d always sort of gear it up slightly more for the race. But yeah, I mean, nothing’s changed since last weekend, and the car’s been performing so well here. So you need to look into it and try and understand why it’s been so good, especially in these high-speed corners because in Austria Red Bull were miles ahead of everybody. And at the moment we’ve been the quickest. So yeah, it’s a difficult sport sometimes.”
Small Tweaks with Big Results
Russell noted that Mercedes has found an optimal setup for their car this year: “I think we’ve made some small changes which have had a big impact. We knew from the start of this year that our car’s baseline was much better than previous years. We went from having an oversteer car last year to an understeer one this year and now we’ve just dialed it back to find a happy medium.” When everything aligns perfectly—balance in place and tire temperatures right—the lap times improve dramatically.
Fans might wonder how these changes will hold up during unpredictable weather conditions.
Hamilton added his perspective on setting up their car regardless of weather conditions: “We’d set the car up pretty much exactly the same whether it’s wet or dry,” he explained simply. The key is optimizing their aero package.
What do you think about Mercedes’ strategy?
