Team instructions and lessons learned from the defeat in Canada – or so he tries to avoid losing another race from the lead this time.
Second place this year belongs to George Russell and Mercedes from Silverstone. The first was achieved in Canada where they finally finished third. After winning the gift last week in Austria, the Briton commented: “Although he wasn’t supposed to win, they failed to win in Montreal.”
Now that they are on the front row with two cars, they will do everything they can to prevent this from happening again. Canada could be a lesson for them in several ways. For one thing, at the start of the race, Russell got into a fight with Lewis Hamilton who moved ahead of him after his mistake, which meant losing time for him.
Team boss Toto Wolff was asked after qualifying whether they would split the roles between their drivers ahead of the British Grand Prix, so they could make the most of their situation and prevent the Brits falling in love with each other, which has been fuelled by the possibility of winning on home soil, as they did with the Ferrari drivers who finished third at Monza last year…
“We talk about this every Sunday. We don’t want to sound like a dead ringer, but we will have a chance tomorrow. We start from first and second, and as long as we can maintain that, it’s good, because we will be in a good position.”
“Wolf said somewhat vaguely, but he doesn’t rule out the possibility of a team order.
Wolff pointed out that he did not take it seriously even before qualifying, as they were able to turn their good form at Silverstone into pole position. “I wasn’t that confident. People also think about karma: they don’t want to get ahead of themselves after a few good first steps. And that’s for tomorrow, too.” He pointed out.
Meanwhile, Canada could also take a lesson from its rival Russell, who could use it now. Especially since the current race, he predicts, could be similar to the one there: with variable rain conditions, with three different teams fighting for the lead at the same time.
After Montreal, Russell punished himself for the missed opportunity: he made several mistakes at crucial moments. And that's what he's trying to avoid now.
“We are competitive, we push the limits. I also said in Montreal that I was not able to balance the risks and rewards well, which backfired at certain moments. You just have to believe that the race will be won in the end. It doesn’t matter what happens before that.”
“It was a good lesson for me. However, we were on the podium. But every situation is different. During the time trial, for example, it rained in only three corners, and the rest of the track was dry. The riders slid in the second and third corners, so it was a big challenge.” – He hinted that chance could also play a big role in the competition.
George Russell (Image: XPB)The example of the role of luck was also mentioned in relation to the Canadian competition. “Canada was very difficult. We put the tyre pressure up on the grid because they said it was going to rain in twenty minutes, which meant twelve to fifteen laps, but it finally came after forty minutes. Lando was ten seconds behind us and ended up ten seconds ahead of us, obviously because of the low tyre pressure.”
“If the rain had come when we expected it, we would have been in a really good position. So Lando was in a good position.”
the lesson: “So we can analyze as much as we want, but the truth is that it is very difficult to predict.”
