Mercedes Ace Lewis Hamilton has been waiting for a long time to get back to winning ways. Apparently, he lost his way since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The man who dominated the sport for several years has been without a race win for over a year now. Clearly, it is quite unfortunate for the Hamilton fans. However, the car has been the weakest link to the Mercedes F1 Team since last year. The car was showing imperfections even in 2021. That led Lewis Hamilton to lose in the Driver’s Championship. But last year was the worst, as the team did not know how to handle the porpoising issues.
However, in 2023, Mercedes has been able to reduce the bouncing problem. But they still have a lot to figure out to catch up with current table toppers. The Brackley-based team has seen promising results after they introduced new upgrades in Monaco. Lewis Hamilton also mentioned that the car felt good after the upgrades. Since then, Mercedes has managed to gain three podiums in Spain and later in Canada. Especially the Grand Prix in Barcelona was their best performance so far, as they got their first double podium. But George Russell does not feel that upgrades helped him or Hamilton significantly.
George Russell Thinks New Upgrades Have Not Made Any Major Difference
Among the two drivers of Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton has performed better than George Russell so far. The senior champion driver has got three podiums this season. He finished at P2 twice, once in the Australian Grand Prix and the next in Spain. The Australian Grand Prix was before Mercedes was able to introduce new upgrades. However, the 25-year-old George Russell, in his second year with Mercedes, managed to get a single podium (P3 at the Spanish Grand Prix) so far.
Hence, fans believe that the new upgrades may help Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton get back to winning ways. But the young driver George Russell opposes that view, as he mentioned in the Driver’s press conference before the Austrian Grand Prix. When asked about him lagging behind his team-mate, George Russell asserted, “It is nothing but a pure coincidence that Lewis and I performed better after the Monaco upgrades. I agree with Lewis that it is a fine margin.” Russell added that he and Lewis Hamilton are statistically the closest in terms of teammates on the grid at present.
The 25-Year-Old Mercedes Driver Hopes To Beat His Teammate Lewis Hamilton
The young Briton even pointed out that he is just 40-odd points behind Lewis Hamilton. At present, that is what matters as the two Mercedes drivers are heading to the Austrian Grand Prix hoping to get the best result possible. But they are not sure if they can beat or catch up to Red Bull anytime soon.
Apparently, George Russell did not have a great time in Canada. He unintentionally hit Hamilton in the qualifying, which caused both him and his team-mate some significant position for the main race. About that, the young Briton apologized to his teammate. He even stated that it is history and not important to give too much thought to that. Instead, George Russell plans to concentrate on the upcoming race. Additionally, Russell noted that it won’t be his final crash, but failures teach people to get stronger and push the boundaries.
