Mercedes were readily impressed by Russell in Bahrain

Mercedes were readily impressed by George Russell when he jumped to replace Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain and missed the win.

Even with the time he spent at Williams, it is always different when one jumps to a top F1 team and has to fight for race wins and or podiums as opposed to fighting to get himself in the Top 10. And so that one race in Bahrain was game changer for Russell.

Mercedes always had the idea to promote him to a race seat alongside Lewis Hamilton, but that grand prix in Bahrain where the Brit almost had a win in his first outing, it really impressed them and made it 200% situation for them to take him in.

“I think when we first ran him in an F1 car, that was one of the post-season Abu Dhabi tests and obviously, whatever you come from, it’s a big jump,” said Mercedes engineering director Andrew Shovlin. “He’d come from F3 into that, and just in terms of throttle control, ability to look after the tyres, understanding what’s important, consistency, the approach to starting and then just chipping away at it without, you know, taking risks without making mistakes, you can normally see the good ones pretty early on.

“So, there was no doubt there. But, for us, the bit where you realised he was pretty impressive was when we jumped him in when Lewis had COVID. Great job, a lot to take on, very little time to adapt to the team, the car. And you know, he’s continuing to improve and get stronger,” summed up Shovlin.

Here’s F1 2023 teams’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-teams-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/

Here’s F1 2023 drivers’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-drivers-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/

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