Russell and Hamilton say Mercedes have found ‘sweeter spot’ with W13 after strong first day at Zandvoort
The more upbeat Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton โ compared to this time last week at Spa anyway โ were left pleased with their performance on the first day of running at Zandvoort, believing the W13 is in a much sweeter spot to compete this weekend.
Russell led the way in the first practice session, just ahead of Hamilton, before finishing fifth in FP2. And the Briton believes that the Silver Arrows are โin a relatively good spotโ as he set his sights on improving their qualifying form in the hopes of giving them a better platform to compete in the race.
โBetter than Spa!โ was Russellโs verdict on Friday. โI think thatโs for sure, comparing with this time last week โ but the carโs working better, thereโs no doubt about it. Itโs going to be close tomorrow, I think McLaren are looking quick, even Aston Martin, and we still know qualifying is our weak point.
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โI think the race will come towards us and I think our long run pace is looking strong. But youโve got to be starting in the right position, you know โ if weโre starting on row three, itโs going to be difficult to battle for first or second.โ
He continued: โBut itโs a little bit tricky out there because the timing screen wasnโt working so we didnโt have โ I donโt know if thatโs the same for television or not… We couldnโt really actually see where our long run pace is really at, so Iโm sure everyone is going to dive into it tonight and try to gather as much data as possible, but I feel weโre in a relatively good spot.โ
Team mate Lewis Hamilton followed up his FP1 efforts with the third quickest time in FP2, finishing 0.079s behind pace setter Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari. And the seven-time world champion believes Mercedes have found a “sweeter spot” with the W13, as he targeted finding more performance heading into the weekend.
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โThis is a lot better than my Sunday [in Spa] and itโs a lot better than Friday even last week,โ Hamilton admitted. โSo yeah, itโs been a decent start to the weekend, weโve landed in a much sweeter spot with the car, being that itโs a much different track and yeah, itโs a work in progress.
โWe are not that far behind which is great to see, and the car doesnโt feel that bad. We just have to keep chipping away and the car doesnโt feel that bad performance-wise โ thereโs probably not a huge amount more performance-wise, but we keep pushing.โ