George Russell praised Mercedes’ team unity after the team ended a largely barren two-and-a-half years by scoring back-to-back wins in the last two rounds.
Mercedes struggled in the first two seasons under the current technical regulations, winning just a single grand prix late in 2022. However, following an overhaul of its car design this year, and a series of developments since the season began, Russell claimed victory in the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of last month. Lewis Hamilton followed that up by winning at Silverstone a week later.
Russell, who is in his third season at Mercedes, said he was impressed how little had changed behind the scenes to achieve the turnaround, and gave credit to team principal Toto Wolff.
“We’ve stayed as one as a team,” he told the official F1 channel. “Everybody stuck together. There’s been no major changes within the organisation of Mercedes.
“You’ve got to give credit to Toto for believing in his people and just giving them a chance to do what they do best. I think that’s something that sets this team apart from many others.
“So far it seems like we’ve done a really great job of that so we’re just hoping to continue on this journey.”
The most significant change to Mercedes’ technical division during that time came took place in April last year. James Allison, who had been the team’s technical director until early 2021, returned to the role, swapping places with previous replacement Mike Elliott, who became chief technical officer. Elliott left Mercedes six months later.
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Despite Mercedes’ gains in recent races, Russell does not see them as potential championship challengers. They are already 152 points behind Red Bull with 573 available, and he trails Max Verstappen by 144 points in the drivers’ championship.
However he is hopeful Mercedes will be regular contenders for victory over the rest of the year.
“Already Max is a long way out in front and Lando’s in a pretty solid P2,” said Russell. “But I think the goal for us for the rest of the year is just to try and win as many more races as possible.
“Of course we’ve closed this gap massively, we’ve had two really great races in the last four. But still, when you look at it, Max has still won two of those races, finished second in another, should have finished second in Austria. It’s not been a bad run of form for those guys either.
“So we’re no doubt closer than ever. We just need to see this race weekend, and in Spa, I think if we have two good race weekends here, we’ll be fast everywhere. We said that in Silverstone, but if we can achieve it again these next two, I think we’ll be there for the rest of the season.”
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