Mercedes Updates Result in Double Podium Finish at Barcelona Grand Prix

New sidepods, a new floor and a new suspension. Mercedes already came up with a lot of updates in Monaco, but the principality’s street circuit is not immediately the ideal backdrop to see results.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell breathed a sigh of relief in Barcelona. With P2 and P3 for the Silver Arrows, it seems that they are now on the right track in Brackley.

Yet it could have turned out completely differently, because during the Catalan practice drives the Mercedes duo did not find the right balance. Hamilton even feared that he would not get further than Q3 during qualifying.

But due to night work of test driver Mick Schumacher in the simulator, it was still possible to crack the code in the factory. That ideal setup resulted in a double podium.

“Friday was extremely difficult, the car was very unpredictable,” said Hamilton. “Mick did a fantastic job, which put us on the right track on Saturday.”

George Russell, who moved from 12th to 3rd place, also praised Schumacher. “This was our best performance of the season. Mick has been in the simulator until after midnight to find the right settings for the race.”

After a mediocre start to the season, this was the hopeful result the engineers at Mercedes needed. According to team boss Toto Wolff, the team needed the wake-up call to drastically change course.

“We needed that shock to understand that we really weren’t moving forward,” he said. “We decided to go in a completely different direction and changed so many things. It was risky, but we have a good racing car now.”

Hamilton also agrees. “We might have even hoped that we could take a slightly bigger step, but we are happy with the progress. We worked hard for this result.”

Isn’t the double podium the result of a bad day for Ferrari and Aston Martin? “I don’t look at it that way,” Hamilton concluded. “I prefer to see the glass half full rather than half empty. We just did a better job as a team.”

In any case, Mercedes jumps over Aston Martin to second place in the constructors’ championship. But whether it will also be able to threaten Red Bull this season remains to be seen.