Mercedes admit that George Russell’s defence against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Spain was part skill, part luck.
The Spanish Grand Prix was a key test for the Mercedes W13 in its current configuration, the team having struggled to control its bouncing habit in the opening rounds, which had led to performance issues.
But at a race where Mercedes could directly compare their ‘zero-pod’ approach to their more conventional sidepods used in Barcelona in pre-season, the W13 delivered, Mercedes moving much closer to the battle at the front.
Although Ferrari and Red Bull do maintain a pace advantage, Russell was very much in the mix at the Spanish Grand Prix, even leading the race at one stage when Charles Leclerc retired from the lead due to a power unit failure.
At that stage Russell had the very close attention of Verstappen, who was looking to undo the damage of an earlier spin suffered while running P2.
Verstappen though was struggling with DRS, which was activating correctly at times, but at others failing to open.
It meant then that the undercut was the only way for Verstappen to clear Russell, the Dutchman ultimately going on to claim victory and move to the top of the Drivers’ Championship, while Russell finished P3.
Part of Russell’s resilient defence, according to Mercedes’ motorsport strategy director James Vowles, came down to driver skill, Russell at one stage noted by the stewards as he and Verstappen battled through Turn 4, Russell maintaining position, though no investigation followed.
But, Vowles said it can not be overlooked that ‘lady luck’ gave Russell a helping hand in the form of Verstappen’s faulty DRS.
Asked to explain how Russell managed to fend off Verstappen for so many laps, in Mercedes’ debrief video, Vowles said: “George did an incredible job at defending.
“He really was very, very good both under braking but also, he really just positioned the car where it needed to be. He did that relative to Perez for quite…
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