George Russell is banking on cooler conditions and a car upgrade to propel Mercedes closer to McLaren and Red Bull at this weekend’s Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton continued Mercedes’ impressive run last time out at the Hungaroring to come home in third place, extending the team’s podium streak to five in a row.
But Hamilton could not replicate his win at Silverstone as he trailed 14.8s behind race winner Oscar Piastri, despite Lando Norris slowing to give up a six-second lead.
Mercedes had suspected heading into that particular round that rear-limited circuit characteristics and hotter temperatures would be a disadvantage against its rivals.
Russell, who was victorious in Austria last month, has revealed that Mercedes’ relentless development will continue with updated components at Spa-Francorchamps.
However, the Briton insists that its relative competitiveness in Budapest has shown that track conditions will take on as much significance in determining its chances.
“I think Budapest confirmed what we knew ahead of the weekend, that we seem to be performing better in the cooler conditions,” Russell admitted.
“So, going into tomorrow [Friday], I think there’s rain forecast.
“We have some upgrades, which is really exciting. To see if that can take us to the next step, after what we brought to Canada a few races ago.
“And we want to take the fight to McLarens and to Red Bull. I think that’s what Formula 1’s about. We want to be in that fight, and it’ll be great to be in that this weekend.”
Russell has conceded that Mercedes’ struggles under the ground effect era continuing into the nascent stages this campaign created internal doubts within the team.
But the German marque’s revival has eradicated those concerns and made Russell optimistic that Mercedes is on track to head into next season with real momentum.
“Really exciting time for us,” he expressed. “And it felt at some point over these last two and a half years, sort of questioning, are we ever going to be rewarded for all this hard work and dedication and sacrifice that the whole team are putting in to try and turn this around and bring Mercedes-Benz back to the top.
“So, already the fact that we have two wins to our name this year is a huge achievement for the team, especially where we started at Bahrain.
“Seeing the challenges other teams are having, bringing upgrades to the car, maybe not quite working as they first expected.
“We feel that we’re on a really exciting journey and going into these, obviously this final race before the summer break, wanting to try and finish on a high.
“But we know that we’re on the right track and there’s a lot of excitement going into the second half of the season into next season as well.
“So, I think it’s an exciting time for us and it’s a great time for the sport as well,” Russell concluded in reference to there having been five winners in the past six races.
