George pawing because after years of "mess" in Williams his chance has finally arrived to race in a Top Team and demonstrate his talent. There Mercedes, It reaffirmed George in this morning's press conference, he is like a large family, which he approaches with immense respect and gratitude. A family must stand on solid foundations and the first is represented precisely by the relationship with the teammate with whom it is ready to deal with, but above all to collaborate and learn. The couple formed by Hamilton e Russell it is one of the most eagerly awaited in this first world event, as well as one of the strongest on paper.
“I have known the team for some time and it felt like coming home once I left Williams. Great to work with Hamilton. He said Russell. "We are pushing in the same direction and we need to work together to solve the problems. We have our say on other aspects and we are working on the problem of porpoising. What we feel under our buttocks… is the most reliable way to solve this problem”.
The second basis, in fact, is given by another element: the car. The W13 which debuted in Bahrain it was far from easy to tame. The problems related to pouring and the debut of the new solution without side pods not submitted to Barcelona, alarmed the team who admitted they were further behind the work of the others.
The Russell in the press conference he confirmed that the W13 has not yet expressed its real potential due to the problems encountered in this phase of development.
“As a driver, the goal is always the same once in the car. Obviously it's amazing to be in Mercedes. I feel ready and relaxed. The aim of the weekend is to make the car go as fast as possible. We know we are not in the best situation and we are trying to resolve the issue of porpoising. The potential is there, I don't know if more races will be needed to bring it out”.
Although we cannot yet know how they will present themselves for the first Grand Prix in Bahrain, and what problems they've solved this week, one thing is for sure: this potential will have to come out and it will do so with the continuous development of the single-seater.
Issues also reiterated by Lewis Hamilton, who during the press conference preceding the race weekend, stated that the W13 is still in an experimental phase. “Not entirely smooth testing, but that was the case for most of the riders. Slowly we are discovering the limits of the machine. I don't expect huge progress now, but it's last weekend's car and we learned a lot from the tests."
AAt least in this first period, therefore, Russell's work could be more conservative, in defense rather than in attack, as at the moment the team needs a united team that works together to stem the problems. Mercedes has brought several updates this weekend, including a new underbody, front wing and nose.
George he's relaxed and ready to debut, so we'll just have to wait and see him in action.
