“It’s not over until it’s over.”
Those were the words Mercedes driver George Russell told his team immediately after taking the chequered flag in style at the Austrian Grand Prix. Given how the race had unfolded just a few minutes earlier, you’d be forgiven for thinking Russell’s comments were a bit embarrassing. Russell was running third behind a climactic battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, but kept within striking distance to capitalise if something happened up ahead.
Something happened: a collision between Norris and Verstappen ended the McLaren driver’s day, forcing the latter to return to the pits with a flat tyre. Russell’s chance came and the Briton pushed through to take the second Grand Prix win of his F1 career and Mercedes’ first of the season.
“It was a tough start to the race,” Russell told David Coulthard trackside shortly after his stunning win. “The team has worked hard and made great progress since the start of the season. The last three races have been incredible and there are even more great races to come… These are really exciting times for us.”
It’s certainly an exciting time for the Silver Arrows. Mercedes has struggled to get off to a good start this season, arriving at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal just a few weeks ago languishing in fourth place in the F1 Constructors’ Championship standings.
They were 180 points behind leaders Red Bull and a staggering 156 points behind Ferrari.
But then there were signs of a comeback. The first was when Russell took pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix. Although he was unable to hold the lead in the race, he finished third, giving the team its first Grand Prix podium of the year. In the F1 sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton came second. Hamilton matched Russell’s third place in Barcelona.
And then Sunday came.
Russell’s win and Lewis Hamilton’s fourth-place finish, as well as the results of Saturday’s F1 sprint race, have put Mercedes Earn an additional 45 points In the standings they were the best-performing team on the grid after all three race weekends.
Here’s what the teams at the top of the grid did during this period:
Red Bull: 79
McLaren: 84
Ferrari: 39
Mercedes: 100
This not only allowed Mercedes to reduce their lead over Red Bull, but also closed the gap to second-placed Ferrari to 95 points.
A stunning comeback for the Silver Arrows.
“Unbelievable! That’s all I can say. We had a tough fight in the early stages to hang on to third place and then it was decisive in the end,” Norris said in the team’s post-race report. “Max [Verstappen] Lando [Norris] It was a tough battle, we were only 10 seconds behind them which is really encouraging in terms of pace.
“We knew there was a chance, even if it was a slim chance, that they would come together. At the end you just have to pick up the pieces and that’s where we were. I’m very proud to be back at the top of the podium.”
“It feels fantastic to be at the top of the podium again – a great reward for the hard work and efforts of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth. We’ve made good progress in recent races and are excited about what’s to come,” said team principal Toto Wolff. “We knew that our pace today wasn’t enough to challenge for the win; [maximized] “I was able to complete the race to the end and bounce back if anything happened. I was lucky, but that’s motor racing.”
At the other end of the garage, Hamilton, who added a further 12 points to his team’s points tally by finishing fourth, praised the entire team’s efforts over the past few weeks.
“Congratulations to George and the team – everyone at Brackley and Brixworth deserves this result,” said Hamilton. “They’ve worked so hard to get the performance out of the car and we’re starting to get closer and closer to the front. We’ve worked so hard so to get a result like this is a fitting reward for everyone’s efforts.”
The grid has shifted to Mercedes for next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and while the battle at the top – and the clash between Norris and Verstappen that gave Russell his chance in the first place – will probably dominate the headlines, Mercedes’ progress is certainly worth noting.
A year ago, McLaren were on a roll of their own, surging up the constructors’ championship. Ultimately finishing in fourth placeThe first signs of their recovery came in Austria, when Russell gave Mercedes their first win of the season.
The Silver Arrows had shown signs of improvement a few weeks earlier, which may raise the question: how far up the table can Mercedes go this year?
