© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
George Russell says the W13 handled “largely as we expected but equally with these conditions, in the wet, and with the wind, there’s not a huge amount you can take from it”.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took the Mercedes for its first spin at Silverstone yesterday, in very windy and rainy conditions.
“Yes I’m not too sure how many of you are in the UK at the moment… but I’d say it’s the windiest day I’ve ever experienced in my whole motorsport career,” Russell said after the shakedown.
“It was absolutely crazy, but we managed to keep the car on the black stuff. To be honest we just went through the program of just running it, making sure I’m comfortable – which I am and I’m pleased about.
“The car handled I’d say largely as we expected but equally with these conditions, in the wet, and with the wind, there’s not a huge amount you can take from it. So far we’re in a good place and I think we’re in a good window ahead of Barcelona.”
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The Briton added that these conditions make it harder to gauge the car’s true performance.
“I think the facts are, if you take the exact same car when there’s no wind and then you put it in 100km/h winds it’s going to feel very difficult to drive.
“It certainly wasn’t easy out there in the conditions but it was certainly in line with what we saw on the simulator.
“I’ll be going back and correlating this afternoon, but it is going to be a constant learning process.
“We’re all going to take today with a pinch of salt, get through the programme, make sure the car runs okay, make sure the drivers are comfortable and make sure we’re in the best spot possible ahead of Barcelona,” Russell concluded.
