© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes has overtaken Red Bull in the championship standings, while George Russell also moves to P2. The Briton says it’s “pretty crazy”.
After Red Bull suffered another DNF due to technical issues, Mercedes has overtaken the Austrian team and moved to P2 in the Constructors’ Championship standings.
George Russell also rose up to P2 in the Drivers’ Championship, after claiming P3 at the Australian Grand Prix.
“Credit to the team at Brackley and Brixworth because obviously we want more performance and we are a step behind Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of pace,” Russell said after the race.
“But you’ve got to be there at the end to pick up the points – and that’s what we’ve done on a number of occasions now.
“This weekend [we were] the fifth-fastest team behind these guys [Red Bull and Ferrari] and McLaren and Alpine, and currently standing P3 on the podium, and P2 in the championship, is pretty crazy.”
The Briton also commented on this fact while talking to Sky Sports F1.
“Someone told me and it was hard to believe. This is a championship based on results and not on performance.
“If we want to keep that position we have to find more performance in the car. I believe my team back at the factory can do that, but it’s going to take a lot of time.”
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Russell, however, is aware that his position was made possible because he benefitted from the timing of the Safety Car.
“We obviously had a bit of fortune there but it’s part of the game, that’s part of the sport. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t.
“I’ve been on both ends a number of times before and that’s just part of motorsport.”
However, the Briton dismisses any possibility that his team is closer to Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of pace.
“I’d love to say we made a lot of progress but we’ve got to look at the lap times and we haven’t closed the gap at all to these guys to the right of me [Perez and Leclerc] and we know we’ve got a lot of work to do.
“And I have faith that we’ll get there. We know there’s potential in the car and we have a lot of work to do to extract that performance. It won’t happen overnight or in the next race but I do think in time we’ll get there.
“For the time being, if we get these results, it’s keeping us in the mix,” Russell concluded.
