Progress has really come at Mercedes.
The staff endured a gradual begin to the 2024 Formula 1 season, however a sequence of upgrades Mercedes started rolling out on the Miami Grand Prix have began to repay. At this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix the staff secured their first pole place of the 12 months, as George Russell nipped Max Verstappen to start out up entrance on Sunday.
While Russell couldn’t maintain off Verstappen for the second win of his F1 profession, he did come throughout the road third, for the staff’s first podium of the 2024 marketing campaign.
In his post-race feedback, Russell admitted that he made some errors on a moist and chaotic afternoon which will have value Mercedes a shot on the win, however he acknowledged how far the staff has come this season.
“I’m upset with myself in the present day. I made too many errors that set us again and value us an opportunity of victory,” began Russell within the staff’s post-race report. “I used to be actually pushing the boundaries on the market.”
Still, the Mercedes driver famous that disappointment over a podium is a far cry from the place the season started.
“That mentioned, it feels nice to be upset with P3. We’ve made small steps over the previous few races and to come back to Canada, get pole place and a podium is basically encouraging,” added Russell. “We’ve been one of many quickest automobiles on monitor all weekend, so we’ve undoubtedly made progress. There are many positives to remove from right here.”
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff hailed the whole group, and the work that has gone into the staff’s progress these previous few weeks.
“It has been an encouraging weekend. We have taken the fitting steps lately and introduced updates which can be working properly. Directionally, we appear to be including efficiency each Grand Prix,” described Wolff. “Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth continues to work extremely laborious and it’s nice to see their efforts rewarded with our first podium of the 12 months. I hope that we are able to proceed this optimistic trajectory.
“Looking forward to Barcelona, it’s a circuit that actually checks a automobile. We are excited to go there and really perceive the place we’re efficiency clever.”
Teammate Lewis Hamilton secured a fourth-place end, in addition to a bonus level for the quickest lap, giving the staff their greatest results of the whole season as Mercedes banked 28 factors on the weekend.
As they head to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks’ time, they sit fourth within the Constructors’ Championship. But feeling upset over a podium illustrates simply how a lot progress they’ve made.
