Two weeks ago, at the same stadium of the Miami Grand Prix, George Russell had posted the best time of the first day but did not really understand why. This Friday in Barcelona, on the occasion of the opening of the Spanish Grand Prix, the Briton is rather optimistic but having in mind the “tumble” known during the Florida event since he did not even have mightn’t pass Q2 the next day.
“In Miami, we were fastest on Friday. And obviously here we are second. So we’ll see”he launched, before evoking a porpoising absent from straight lines but not from high-speed turns. “The car reacts differently, we have different limitations this time, we don’t have a porpoising issue on the straight which is good, but we still have some issues here and there on the corners, which need to be addressed. “I think Red Bull are still very, very strong. They’re the team to be reckoned with at the moment. And yes, we need to go through the data.”
While Red Bull was relatively discreet over one lap, the race simulation times seemed excellent, confirming the good disposition of the RB18 during long stints, while Ferrari set the benchmark on a flying lap thanks to Charles Leclerc. Russell believes, however, that there is no reason not to see Mercedes at a level similar to that posted this Friday for the rest of the weekend, even if he wants to be particularly cautious in the face of the pace shown by the two top teams at the start of the season.
“I don’t see any reason why we mightn’t be the same distance from the lead as what we showed, if not a bit closer. [lors des qualifications]. But you know, there are differences with power modes and such. I think Ferrari and Red Bull were in their lowest power mode, so they are a bit ahead of us there. I do not know. It’s delicate. The degradation was enormous for everyone. And that’s what will determine whether it’s make or break during this race on Sunday. So that’s what we’re going to focus on tonight.”
About the porpoising still encountered, he concludes: “There will probably be a solution in the pipeline, probably nothing this weekend that we can implement instantly to find solutions, but I think there has to be a balance between what we want to settle for qualifying or for the race, and the compromises we want to make. But we are in good shape.”
On the Mercedes staff side, track engineering manager Andrew Shovlin shares the optimism displayed and also points out the importance of strategy: “It’s a solid start to the weekend, the car feels more normal here at Barcelona. We’ve made progress in reducing the bounce with this aero development and the pace seems like a step forward; not everything quite at the level of Red Bull and Ferrari but we hope to get out of the midfield group.”
“We also had a smooth introduction to the second power unit from both riders. The hot conditions here give the tires a hard time, they are very easy to overheat and the levels of degradation are high which should make the strategy quite interesting. We’ll be rolling in the simulator at Brackley tonight, trying to find a little more time in the car, but at least we have a good platform to build on and hopefully we can progress a bit more for tomorrow.”
