George Russell has revealed observing Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s practice data helped him to claim pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Mercedes emerged as the team to beat in a drier final practice hour at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but it was Hamilton who ended up near four-tenths clear at the top.
However, Russell turned the tables on his illustrious partner again this term to pip Max Verstappen in a dead heat as Hamilton dropped down to seventh, 0.280s back.
The Briton has explained how delving into how Hamilton had managed to open such a considerable advantage in FP3 was instrumental to him getting on pace terms.
“This morning Lewis was absolutely flying and he was well ahead of me,” Russell recalled.
“I had to look a lot into his data to try to understand what he was doing differently. And, to be honest, that helped me a huge amount.
“So ahead of this qualifying, I’m just so glad that we could pull it off, because I feel like we really deserve all of this hard work we’ve been putting in.
“And the car has been feeling awesome this weekend.”
Mercedes has adopted an aggressive development process over recent weeks with a revised front wing in Monaco last time assisting in improving the W15’s balance.
Russell thinks the unexpected result – the squad’s first pole since the Hungarian Grand Prix last summer – will inspire Mercedes even more to continue closing the gap.
“Such a buzz,” Russell expressed. “It’s been a while since we’ve experienced this feeling.
“There is so much hard work going on behind the scenes back at Brackley and Brixworth and it’s been a little while to be able to sort of get back in the fight.
“It almost felt like all of that hard work hasn’t been paying off.”
Russell is convinced the German marque has dispelled its previous woes with the current ground effect cars and is now honing in on the optimal performance range.
“I think we struggled a lot with understeer before,” he explained.
“Last year, we had a lot of oversteer, and we’ve sort of been just trying to find the halfway house between what we had last year and what we had this year.
“And it feels like we’re sort of dialling in that sweet spot right now.
“It feels like it’s something we’ve been saying for a long time, in all honesty. But really, there is a sense of relief to actually see it translate into pole position.”
