{"id":18807,"date":"2024-03-01T03:29:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T08:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=18807"},"modified":"2024-03-01T03:30:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T08:30:44","slug":"george-russell-outlines-which-team-mercedes-in-real-fight-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/03\/01\/george-russell-outlines-which-team-mercedes-in-real-fight-with\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell outlines which team Mercedes in &#8220;real fight&#8221; with"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>George Russell was pleased with Mercedes&#8217; early pace in Bahrain. However, he wants to exercise caution about the W15 and its potential.<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Surprise&#8221; was perhaps the main buzzword after the first day of practice in Bahrain. George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin&#8217;s Fernando Alonso all expressed this sentiment after FP2.<\/p>\n<p>The three Mercedes-powered drivers topped the timing sheets on day 1.<\/p>\n<p>This should not be seen as a complete surprise since all three drivers were regular contenders at the front last year.<\/p>\n<p>Practice is rarely a perfect reflection of the pecking order, so these positions are not 100% representative.<\/p>\n<p>Still, FP2 saw all the teams carry out qualifying simulations on the soft tyre.<\/p>\n<p>There are inevitably small divergences in fuel and engine modes across the field. However, this astrix is not enough to dismiss the performance shown by the top 3.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"CCszQUeCTCNHtOqxAMJJNg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2048640532\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'CCszQUeCTCNHtOqxAMJJNg',sig:'0vPDY2_6gHVxfYal3pIj2YAWrCZ4iL3e1zq8heUxo6A=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2048640532',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Whilst Max Verstappen is still the favourite in the RB20, Mercedes can be satisfied with their progress.<\/p>\n<p>After making a series of changes following pre-season testing, the Silver Arrows unlocked more speed from the W15.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Russell maintains realistic objectives<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For a team still learning a new concept, this process will be ongoing in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully for Toto Wolff&#8217;s personnel, they now have a reliable baseline to build upon for this year&#8217;s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Podium positions will almost certainly be up for grabs, although Ferrari has kept some performance in their pocket after running a lower engine mode.<\/p>\n<p>With this in mind, George Russell wants to be realistic about where the W15 is:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;We\u2019re not going to get carried away after one day of practice.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Our qualifying pace did look strong. We <\/em><em>made some changes from the test, and the improvement exceeded our expectations.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But ultimately, our long-run pace is where it counts. Verstappen looked comfortably quickest.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;And it was very tight with the Ferraris, the McLarens, and the Aston Martins. So we\u2019ve likely got a real fight on our hands there.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Nevertheless, we\u2019re pleased with how our day has gone; the car is performing well.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We will sit down and understand where the main improvements came from and try to sustain that.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a id=\"1s3h9rCXSXhvu7Mswvgy8Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2048375903\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'1s3h9rCXSXhvu7Mswvgy8Q',sig:'zp_GIqGApuHmdFzs_wjYkeRTIbXVP_hIIBLjKEJfdkc=',w:'594px',h:'386px',items:'2048375903',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is a sensible approach and a recurring one for the German constructor for almost a decade.<\/p>\n<p>Managing expectations is a natural aspect of Formula 1, especially at this stage of the season.<\/p>\n<p>There are still plenty of unknowns at this stage, although more and more certainties are emerging.<\/p>\n<p>One of these is that Mercedes will be competing at the front. Rivals suspected as much during testing when the W15 seemed to be holding back more than rivals.<\/p>\n<p>However, the first indications from race and qualifying simulations suggest a very close fight among the top 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Russell was pleased with Mercedes&#8217; early pace in Bahrain. However, he wants to exercise caution about the W15 and its potential. &#8220;Surprise&#8221; was perhaps the main buzzword after the first day of practice in Bahrain. George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin&#8217;s Fernando Alonso all expressed this sentiment after FP2. The three Mercedes-powered drivers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":18809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2220,68,2238,23,1450,121,2221],"class_list":["post-18807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-f1","tag-f1-2024","tag-formula-1","tag-george-russell","tag-mercedes","tag-w15"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}