Formula 1 racing team Mercedes experienced a wild weekend in France. First, there are long faces. The promising update does not ignite at all. In the race, however, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell show what is possible.
What do the Saudi GP and French GP have in common? Unbelievable but true: at the race in Jeddah in 2021, the world champion team Mercedes clinched a double podium for the last time. The silver ones had to wait until the race in Le Castellet to finally throw another double podium celebration.
Before Sunday, until 3 p.m. CEST, it didn’t look like a Mercedes party in southern France. Because Friday and Saturday gave little hope in the fight for the top 3. Rather the opposite.
The Silver Arrows brought a new update package and did a lot of work. But the new parts didn’t catch on at all at first. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were trailing in Friday practice and qualifying. And a good second. This is not what you expect after an upgrade. Fourth and sixth place on the starting grid seemed like the maximum that could be achieved.
After qualifying, team boss Toto Wolff was very disappointed. “We came here with the attitude that it would be a step forward. That backfired,” he said soberly.
Then came Sunday, which surprisingly ended with a celebrating Mercedes duo on the podium. How can that be?
Mercedes benefits from the mistakes of the competition
Well, initially both Mercedes men also benefited from mistakes made by the competition. On the one hand, there was the departure of Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver, while in the lead, sped off on lap 18, crashed into the barrier and paved the way for Max Verstappen to his seventh win of the season. As a result, Hamilton also moved up a position.
Before that, he himself had played a huge part in his good starting position by passing Verstappen wingman Sergio Pérez at the start. He shouldn’t give up this place anymore. And that despite a drinking water bottle breakdown that put the 37-year-old on dry land. After the race, Hamilton had to lie down before he celebrated.
But speaking of Pérez: The Mexican didn’t have a good day at all, no, actually the whole weekend went very little for him. He also played a role in the Mercedes success. Not only did he leave the position to Hamilton at the start, he also fell asleep at the restart towards the end of the race. Russell had previously launched attacks against the Red Bull driver. Initially unsuccessful – in between there was a touch between the two, which led to angry radio messages from both sides – but after the end of the safety car phase Pérez reacted too slowly. Russell took advantage of the moment and simply flew past the start and finish straight.
Despite the DRS and the close distance, Perez then bit his teeth on the Briton. The snoring restart even seduced RB consultant Helmut Marko into joking that his pilot might have nibbled on tequila in the evening. It is not known whether Pérez himself finds it funny.
The race pace fits!
So much for the glitches of the competition, namely Red Bull and Ferrari. What’s more, with the Scuderia, Carlos Sainz had to start from 19th place and plow through the field after an engine penalty. But it is obvious that Mercedes also played its own part in the success. Because the racing pace of the W13 was right again. Although Hamilton leader Verstappen could not follow the Leclerc drama, the gap grew to a few seconds. But the bolide with the star is becoming more and more competitive, at least in the race, keeping the competitors behind.
“Our pace was strong,” confirmed Russell. Team boss Toto Wolff saw a Hamilton who “drived great”. “The gap to the top stabilized and from then on he kept up. A brilliant performance.” The team did their homework overnight, put their heads together in the factories and adjusted the setup again. Hamilton thanked the team after the race. ” It was a tough race. A great result – especially when you consider how far behind we were,” said the record world champion. “Reliability is one of our big points. Also congratulations to our two factories, without the hard work it wouldn’t be possible.”
For Hamilton it was even the fourth podium in a row. Russell has also been performing all season – with the material that is there. At the beginning of the season, however, there was still a problem with the new car. Above all, the bouncing plagued the team and driver. You understand the racer better and better now, said Russell after the past races. You’ve found the key. Whereupon Wolff joked that they had probably lost the key in the grass a few more times afterwards
After all: After the previous updates in Barcelona, Silverstone and probably now also in France, Mercedes made a more or less big step forward. Although Wolff is known to be a supporter of realism. The distance to the top, i.e. to Verstappen and Leclerc, is still there and “too big”, said the Austrian.
Hamilton eager for the next update: What’s up in Budapest?
Hamilton is already hot for the next update – and that for the next race next weekend in Hungary. “I hope that we’ll update again and get closer. You can see in the race that we’re getting closer to the front there. Hopefully it can get even closer,” said Hamilton.
The next heat battle is on the agenda in Budapest. The hope is increasing at Mercedes that they will soon be able to have a say in terms of victories again. On Friday, Wolff said in an RTL/ntv interview: “We want to be able to win again”. Third place has already been in there eight times this season, now second place is still missing… Exactly. Problem for Mercedes: Not only Leclerc and Pérez have something against it.
The wild Mercedes roller coaster ride will probably continue for the rest of the season.
Emmanuel Schneider