The fact that Lewis Hamilton seems to be on the upswing in the Mercedes-internal stable duel with George Russell since the team introduced the first major update for the W14 in Monaco, according to Russell is not directly related to the updates, but according to him is “purer Coincidence”.
In any case, there are “very fine differences” that swing the pendulum between him and Hamilton depending on the race weekend, Russell believes. He says: “I think of all the teams, statistically, we’re the one with the smallest gap between team-mates.”
That’s almost, but not quite right, by the way. In the qualifying team duel between Hamilton and Russell, Hamilton was 0.102 seconds faster on average over the first eight race weekends. So far, only the team duel at Ferrari has been tighter. Charles Leclerc’s average lead over Carlos Sainz is 0.098 seconds.
In any case, expert Ralf Schumacher has the impression that the Mercedes updates have helped Hamilton more than Russell: “I just think that Lewis Hamilton can handle the car better now,” he says in an interview on the Formula 1 YouTube channel. en”.
He goes on: “You have to give Russell that. The car was obviously a little harder to drive, and in that phase he also dominated Hamilton at times. Now it’s the other way around. You can see George is struggling with this update. It’s a bit of a shame for him. But well, he has to get through it, he has to get it under control.”
An assessment that Russell does not share. He sees no connection between the internal balance of power over the past few weeks and the update introduced in Monaco: “It’s pure coincidence,” he dismisses when asked by ‘Motorsport-Total.com’.
Russell: 2023 exactly the opposite of 2022
“Lewis is a very strong rider. At the start of last year Lewis was at a higher level than me and yet I was ahead of him in the World Championship. Now we’re very close and I’m 40 points behind him. And that’s ultimately that’s all that matters. The last few races haven’t been the best for me. But that’s history. I’m looking ahead.”
Hamilton, on the other hand, does concede that he’s getting along better with the W14 since the updates were introduced: “Trust is a huge thing. You have to have faith in the stability of the car when you’re cornering at 240-290kph. You have to Being able to trust the car to give you support. And that has been critical at times this year.”
“The change in direction we’ve taken means I can go a little bit more in that direction now and I have a little more confidence in really pushing the limit. But we’re not quite there yet. It needs more changes. Especially Looking ahead to next year, they have to be fundamental.”
“I’ve been talking about this for a year now and I expect changes like this will come. That will help. But it’s not just that. It’s also the rear end and how it moves in the corner. We’ll work on that , that’s our focus. I think there will be progress in the next few months. I’m looking forward to that,” he says.
Hamilton: What happened to updates in 2022
“Last year we brought many upgrades and we made small steps forward. But we also had to learn that it is not easy to find performance with this generation of cars. Whenever we found performance in the wind tunnel, in practice it was ‘ Bouncing’ more. It’s better this year.”
“We’ve taken a step in the right direction. But we’re still in the middle of turning the tide. When I’m in the car and driving, I’m slowly starting to feel the positive effects. I’m starting to feel more comfortable in it. It just feels more like a real racing car,” explains Hamilton.
Russell: Austria could be Mercedes
Speaking of the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix, Russell says, “The track should suit us better than Canada. Silverstone will be the next step in the right direction, more like Barcelona. We’re developing really, really well at the moment. The team at Brackley does an outstanding job of closing the gap.”
Also interesting: Mercedes and Aston Martin seem to have gotten closer to Red Bull in Canada recently than at some of the previous races: “If you look at the average distance, it seems like Red Bull has taken a small step back”, analyzes Russell.
But: “Before they were three steps ahead of us. Now only two. I was recently told that they’ve won 17 of the past 18 races. They’re just cruising around and don’t go to the limit. They’re doing great Job. But I hope it won’t be too long before we can turn the tide.”