Russell managed to move from Williams to Mercedes starter this winter to replace Valtteri Bottas, who ended up at Alfa Romeo , as Hamilton ‘s new teammate.
The 24-year-old made an immediate impression on the Silver Arrows, helped by the fact that he had been associated with the Brackley team for years. But few would have predicted that Russell would overtake Lewis Hamilton in all but one race so far, and that he would also beat his illustrious team-mate 4-3 in qualifying head-to-head.
While Hamilton initially struggled to get the most out of the Mercedes W13, the seven-time world champion seemed much more at ease once the team finally got its wild porpoising problems under control at the Spanish GP and managed to your car will start working as expected.
Team principal Toto Wolff believes that only bad luck prevents Hamilton from matching Russell on a regular basis. At the Monaco GP, the seven-time world champion lost out to his young teammate in qualifying after his last fastest lap was aborted due to a red flag and he was unable to come back in the race.
He had previously clashed with Kevin Magnussen on the first lap at Barcelona, and on more than one occasion earlier in the season an ill-timed safety car ruined his strategy.
Asked if Russell finishing ahead of Hamilton had become a regular thing, Wolff replied: “No, you have to take into account the poor runs Lewis had, I mean, look at the Monaco race, stuck again. .
“The touch with Esteban [Ocon], stuck behind Fernando [Alonso], the red flag in qualifying… when all that happens, I think the pendulum will swing. So when those unfortunate situations stop happening to Lewis, They will be very much in the same rhythm. In one practice session one leads and in the other the other, and that’s great”.
“Also, they work together to straighten out our car, because we need to straighten out our car.”
After struggling to overtake the likes of McLaren and Alfa Romeo early on, due notably to their porpoising issues, Mercedes now appears to be clearly the third fastest team on the grid.
Wolff admitted that third place in the standings is “where we belong, but not where we want to be”, and now comes the Azerbaijan GP in Baku .
“Our team is only third on the track and that’s why the positions are fifth and sixth,” he said. “That’s where we belong but it’s not where we want to be and so if you take a podium it’s nice. It’s good for points in the long run but I don’t want any of that.”
“I want to be part of the group that fights for victory at the front, and these are important lessons that we learn here and that are going to be the basis for us to perform again in the long term.”
