The qualifying session on Saturday in Zandvoort was a mixed bag for Mercedes. George Russell managed to secure his W15 on the second starting row, but Lewis Hamilton couldn’t make it past Q2. Russell believes there are still opportunities for him from his fourth starting position, although overtaking McLaren will be a tough task.
Hamilton didn’t make it past P12, and to add insult to injury, the British driver also received a grid penalty. The Mercedes driver was penalized for impeding Sergio Pérez, which means Hamilton will start the race from P15. “It all went wrong,” Hamilton doesn’t mince words after the qualification, speaking to F1TV. “It was like a domino effect, which started with the incident with Checo (Pérez). The balance kept getting worse, and there was more and more oversteer. It was terrible.”
George Russell’s Qualifying Session: A Rollercoaster of Performance
George Russell, a teammate at Mercedes, had a rocky start to the qualifying session but managed to find the right pace in time. “It’s always challenging, psychologically, when you hit the track and the car doesn’t feel as expected,” Russell reflects on Q1. “You’re somewhere at the bottom of the order and it even seems like you’re not going to get past Q1. Then you have to do a reset. Q2 was very strong again, but Q3 didn’t go quite as smoothly. I expected more.”
Has McLaren Surpassed Red Bull?
Despite the Mercedes driver hoping for a top three starting position, he believes there are still opportunities to drive to the podium during the race. “Realistically, McLaren is still faster than everyone else,” Russell explains. “We have done a good job by bringing our upgrades, but unfortunately, McLaren is improving their performance at the same pace.”
According to Russell, McLaren has even completely surpassed their Austrian competitor, Red Bull. In the constructors’ standings, McLaren is only 42 points behind the world champions. “We (Mercedes) are creating an increasingly larger gap with the midfield, and are slowly getting closer to Red Bull. But McLaren has already surpassed Red Bull in terms of performance. We need to keep working hard.”
