Mercedes was able to outrun Aston Martin and fend off Ferrari’s attacks. Today, this team faces a challenge from McLaren, but its main task is to catch up with Red Bull. In Hungary, the team from Brackley could easily grab more points than McLaren, at least in the opinion of Toto Wolff, but the hope of a better result for the team was ruined by a spoiled Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton would probably not be able to beat Max Verstappen under any circumstances. The Dutchman was flying on Sunday, but with a perfect weekend it could have been a double podium.
Everything started to fall apart on Saturday with George Russell dropping out already in Q1. This was followed by a failed start on Sunday, and Mercedes was chasing the hare by the tail for the rest of the race. In the end, Hamilton strongly caught up with Pérez and Norris, Russell in turn with Piastri, but in the end it is “only” fourth and sixth place. Mercedes certainly had more to do in Hungary.
“Sixth place is more than we expected. The strategists predicted eleventh place for me before the race. If we had done everything perfectly, according to their calculations, we could have finished in seventh place at best,” he said after the race George Russell for Sky Television. “In the end I finished sixth ahead of both Ferraris who started far in front, so I’m satisfied.”
When asked if he knew about Leclerc’s penalty when he decided to attack, he replied: “In short, that was our pace. This is one of my favorite circuits and we did well as a team here. Today was a pleasant surprise for me.”
“But I think it’s disappointing at the same time. We could have started at the front with Lewis and if we could have got both cars in the first two rows it would have completely changed the dynamics of the race. We missed a small opportunity, but in any case we increased our lead in the second place of the Constructors’ Cup, which we take with all ten.” he said Russell.
His boss, Toto Wolff, told Sky that Mercedes was the second fastest in Hungary, but could not take advantage of it. George answered this treacherous question a little less bravely. “It seems that we are a little step behind McLaren, especially when we look at Lando. But we were amazed by Oscar, who didn’t make any mistakes as a rookie, which is really amazing. Later, he will reach Lando’s level. When that happens, they will be a real threat. However, we have enough of a lead to keep them behind us. So maybe we’re in second place, but side by side with McLaren,” he said Russell.
2023-07-23 19:28:44
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