Mercedes driver George Russell is bracing himself for the new season, as it’s only a few weeks away now. Therefore, all the drivers are trying to regain their best fitness after a long vacation.
Russell is one of them, who admits that after nine weeks of a long vacation, he is yet to reach back to his best level with the car. As of now, he’ll only be on simulators and can’t get the real feel of Mercedes W14 before the Bahrain pre-season testing, which is still two weeks away.
Though Mercedes has yet to reveal its new livery, everything is secret. Nevertheless, he had one experience with an F1 car after returning from a long vacation, as Mercedes opted to participate in Pirelli’s testing at the start of this month.
Welcome back, @GeorgeRussell63. 👋 pic.twitter.com/3Cs8QgA8ZP
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 1, 2023
Also read: George Russell Reveals Why He Considers W11 as ‘Peak’ Mercedes Car
George Russell breaks Paul Ricard’s record even with rusty form
In his recent interview with AMuS, Russell talks about how he felt rusty after coming back to action. He felt his body getting sore and aching in several places after having his first experience in the car in so many days. However, he broke the timing record in the French circuit and explained how it happened.
“It was over two seconds quicker than race weekend,” Russell revealed. “Because it was so cold. So the tyres were not overheating like at the race weekend. At the race weekend, it was 50 degrees track temperature, and in the test, it was 10. The air temperature was 8 degrees and then the race was I think 35.”
Under these conditions, the air density was high, explains Russell ahead, so the downforce was naturally high. Since Mercedes was already running on the high downforce, it felt like another level of downforce to them.
Creating the best car is like creating a puzzle and then solving it
Russell being in Williams, then driving a Mercedes w11, which was a beast, and now finally being a permanent driver at Mercedes, has ended up seeing all the spectrums of F1’s grid.
He was asked what makes a championship-winning team different from a team at the bottom. The Briton replied that it’s like creating a puzzle and ensuring all pieces align. Meaning from top to bottom, the team’s ensemble has to work in perfect harmony.
That happened with Mercedes in the first eight years of the turbo-hybrid era, when they dominated like no other. Even under this slump, nobody has been reckless enough to underestimate Mercedes’ challenge for 2023. That’s what Mercedes’ workforce has left as an impression on others.
Also read: 2-Time World Champion’s Father Put More Effort in Son’s F1 Career Than His Own
