Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have had a rocky start to their Mercedes partnership, but they’ll be heartened by plans to take the fight to the enemy.
The Brackley-based outfit haven’t been up to their usual high standards in recent years, and this season represents a new low thus far. That’s despite the fact the Silver Arrows celebrated their best result of the season so far at the Canadian Grand Prix earlier in June.
Russell, 26, secured third place in Montreal and finished one position ahead of seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton, 39. This marked the first podium finish of 2024 for Mercedes, but technical director James Allison is optimistic his team have the capability to produce a car worthy of getting their drivers back among the top positions.
“The changes we have made are making this car a better car and that will be true at every circuit we go to,” he stated, according to Motorsport.com (via the Daily Express). “The characteristics of Montreal make it look a little quicker than we have a natural right to command at the coming races.
“In Barcelona, I think it more likely that we will be competitive, but not right at the front because the next tracks are a little bit of a sterner test of a car. Hot asphalt, wider cornering speeds. However, I also know what we have got coming. I also know what we are planning to further improve the car.
“Our challenge is just to keep those upgrades arriving at a pace that the others cannot keep up with and in doing that, just bullying our car to the front by virtue of the effort made by everybody here over the coming weeks and months to get the car so that it can have its Montreal weekend or better at any track that we face in the future.”
Mercedes has had a rough season so far, currently sitting fourth in the constructor standings and nearly 100 points off the top three. The recent surge of McLaren has further highlighted Mercedes’ malaise over the last few campaigns, with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri outperforming Hamilton and Mercedes in the drivers’ standings.
James Allison wants Mercedes’ engineers to put their drivers in a position to win
Hamilton’s top five finish in Montreal was his first this year after nine attempts. However, he did manage to clock the fastest lap for the second consecutive race weekend, while Russell had the privilege of starting on pole.
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With Hamilton set to move to Ferrari next year, these are all promising signs for the team that once dominated F1. But there’s still a long road ahead before the bosses at Red Bull start feeling the heat from Brackley.
The campaign resumes in Catalonia on June 22, a race in which both Mercedes drivers managed to notch podium finishes last year. Russell finished second to Max Verstappen while Hamilton accepted third, and the team management would likely jump at the chance of repeating that result this term.
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