“It’s not over, till it’s over.’
These have been the phrases of Mercedes driver George Russell, as he spoke together with his group simply moments after taking the checkered flag on the Austrian Grand Prix in beautiful vogue. One may be excused for believing there was some bewilderment behind Russell’s remark, given how the race stood simply minutes prior. Russell was operating in third, behind the climactic struggle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, however he stored himself in placing distance, giving himself an opportunity to capitalize if one thing occurred on the entrance.
One thing did occur, a collision between Norris and Verstappen that ended the McLaren driver’s day and noticed Verstappen limp again to the pits with a puncture of his personal. The door was open for Russell, and the British driver barged by way of, capturing the second Grand Prix win of his System 1 profession, and the primary for Mercedes this season.
“It was a tricky struggle on the market at first of the race,” stated Russell to David Coulthard trackside instantly following his beautiful victory. “The group has labored so onerous, we’ve made so many strides for the reason that begin of the season. The final three races have been unbelievable, and there’s extra to come back … what an thrilling time for us.”
Certainly it’s an thrilling time for the Silver Arrows. Mercedes struggled out of the gate this season, and arrived in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix just some brief weeks in the past languishing in fourth place within the F1 Constructors’ Championship standings.
They have been a staggering 180 factors behind first-place Purple Bull, and 156 factors behind Ferrari.
However over the previous three race weekends no group has scored extra factors than the Silver Arrows. With Russell’s win and a fourth-place end from Lewis Hamilton — together with their outcomes from Saturday’s F1 Dash Race — Mercedes banked one other 45 factors within the standings.
Here’s what the groups on the high of the grid have achieved over this era:
Purple Bull: 79
McLaren: 84
Ferrari: 39
Mercedes: 100
That has seen Mercedes reduce not solely into Purple Bull’s lead over them, however pull to inside 95 factors of Ferrari up in second place.
A shocking turnaround for the Silver Arrows.
“Unimaginable! That’s the one approach I can describe it. We had a tricky struggle within the early phases to ensure we held on to P3. That might show essential on the finish,” stated Norris within the group’s post-race report. “I might see that Max [Verstappen] and Lando [Norris] have been having an enormous battle. We have been solely simply over ten seconds behind the pair of them, which is admittedly encouraging pace-wise.
“I knew there was a risk that they might come collectively, even when it was solely a slim likelihood. It’s important to be there on the finish to choose up the items and that’s precisely the place we have been. I’m so proud to be again on the highest step of the rostrum.”
“It’s a nice feeling to get again on to the highest step of the rostrum. It’s a implausible reward for the onerous work and efforts of everybody at Brackley and Brixworth. We’ve got taken good steps ahead in latest races, and we’re enthusiastic about what continues to be to come back,” described Staff Principal Toto Wolff. “We knew our outright tempo as we speak wouldn’t fairly be sufficient to problem for victory. We due to this fact made positive we [maximized] our race and have been in a position to decide up the items, ought to something occur. We loved some luck however that’s motor racing.”
On the opposite aspect of the storage Hamilton — whose fourth-place end added one other 12 factors to that tally for the group — hailed the trouble these previous few weeks from the whole group.
“Congratulations to George and the group. Everybody at Brackley and Brixworth actually deserves this outcome,” provided Hamilton. “They’ve labored so onerous to deliver efficiency to the automobile and we’re beginning to get us nearer and nearer to the very entrance. We put in a lot effort so to get a outcome like this can be a well-deserved reward for everybody’s efforts.”
The grid now shifts house for Mercedes, for subsequent weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Whereas the struggle on the entrance — and the collision between Norris and Verstappen that opened the door for Russell within the first place — will seemingly dominate the headlines the surge from Mercedes is completely worthy of notice.
A 12 months in the past it was McLaren who pulled off a surge of their very own, rocketing up the Constructors’ Championship to finally end fourth. Their turnaround confirmed its first indicators of life in Austria, the place Russell simply captured Mercedes’ first win of the season.
The Silver Arrows confirmed their very own indicators of a turnaround a couple of weeks sooner than that. So it may be truthful to ask: Simply how excessive can Mercedes climb this 12 months?
