Real progress has been made at Mercedes.
The team has had a slow start to the 2024 F1 season, but a series of upgrades that Mercedes began implementing at the Miami Grand Prix are starting to pay off. At this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, George Russell held off Max Verstappen to start the race in front on Sunday, giving the team its first pole position of the year.
Although Russell was unable to hold off Verstappen for the second win of his F1 career, he finished third to earn the team’s first podium of the 2024 season.
Speaking after the race, Russell admitted he made some mistakes during a wet and chaotic afternoon that may have cost Mercedes their chances of victory, but said he recognised how much the team has improved this season.
“I’m disappointed with myself today. I made too many mistakes which set me back and cost me a chance to win,” Russell said in his team’s post-race report. “I was really pushing the limits.”
Still, the Mercedes driver pointed out that his disappointment with the podium was a very different feeling to when the season began.
“That said, third place is disappointing. We’ve been making incremental progress over the last few races so to come to Canada and get pole position and then get on the podium is really encouraging,” Russell added. “We had one of the quickest cars on track all weekend so we’ve definitely made progress and there are a lot of positives to take from this.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff praised the entire organisation and the work they have done to contribute to the team’s progress in recent weeks.
“It was an encouraging weekend. We’ve taken the right steps recently and introduced updates that are working well and, directionally, we seem to be performing better with each Grand Prix,” said Wolff. “Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth continues to work incredibly hard and it’s great to see their efforts being rewarded in the form of our first podium of the year. Hopefully we can continue on this positive trajectory.”
“It’s a circuit that will really test the car going into Barcelona. We’re looking forward to going there and really understanding where we are performance-wise.”
Teammate Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and also won the bonus point for fastest lap, giving Mercedes 28 points for the weekend, the team’s best result all season.
They lie fourth in the constructors’ championship going into the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona in two weeks’ time, but the disappointment of not reaching the podium shows just how far they have come.
