Mercedes enjoying "great energy and momentum" for Silverstone

Wednesday, 03 July 2024 at 08:30

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Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff will be forgiven a spring in his step heading to Silverstone for the 2024 British Grand Prix this weekend after George Russell stunned with an unexpected, albeit fortuitous win at Red Bull Ring on Sunday.

With Max Verstappen and Lando Norris hogging the limelight for good reasons, their excellent battle in the Sprint Race on Saturday. Ditto their duel for pole position in Spielberg later in the day.

In the race, with less than a dozen laps to go, things turned dramatically in a moment of madness by Verstappen, that not cost him or Norris victory, but relegated the Red Bull driver down to P5 and Norris a DNF due to damage sustained in their collision.

Step up Russell, who was best of the rest in the much-improved Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was P4. The younger Britons getting the better of the seven-time F1 World Champion all weekend in Austria.

In the Mercedes preview of what is, without a German Grand Prix on the calendar, their home race, Wolff said: "We head to Silverstone encouraged by our weekend in Austria. We capitalised on the opportunities that presented themselves to claim victory."

Immediately after the race in his homeland, Wolff beaming with victory pride was humble enough to admit: "We need two to crash in the front to win at the moment."

Wolff: We were running an honest third

wolff russell f1 mercedes brutush gp prveiew

The Mercedes boss echoed his post-race sentiments in the build-up to Silverstone: "We were running an honest third on track, not too far behind the leading duo. When they tangled, we were there to take advantage.

"That is due to the hard work of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth over the recent months. Our incremental gains have brought us closer to the front and turned us into regular podium contenders. Everyone is focused on maintaining that positive trajectory and getting ourselves into the fight for victories on a regular basis.

"We are optimistic that we can achieve this. There is a great energy and momentum within the team and last weekend's result only adds to that," reckoned Wolff.

Mercedes have not won the British GP since 2021

Wolff: Hamilton can win Silverstone in a car just a few tenths off

This led to the forthcoming Grand Prix: "Turning to this weekend, Silverstone is something of a home race for our team, being close to both our technical centres in Brackley and Brixworth. It is always fantastic to see our factory-based team members in the grandstands.

"I'm sure the British fans will also be out in force cheering on the team, and both Lewis and George; the atmosphere each and every year is exceptional. On the track, the battle at the front is tight. We will have to be at our best to challenge for the podium once again.

"That is our aim, though, and we are excited for the challenge," concluded Wolff, whose Mercedes team are P4 in the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship standings ahead of Round 12 in England this weekend.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the 2023 British Grand Prix, beating the Mercedes-powered McLaren of Lando Norris, with Hamilton P3 and Russell P5.

Mercedes British Grand Prix Fact File

British Grand Prix at 5.891km, the Silverstone Circuit is the fifth-longest on the F1 calendar and only Spa-Francorchamps (7.004km), Baku (6.003km), Las Vegas (6.201km) and Jeddah (6.174km) are longer.
Maggotts, Becketts, Chapel - Silverstone boasts some of the most iconic names for corners in the whole of motorsport, and it is one of only three tracks in F1 where engineers give names to the corners and not numbers, the other two being Spa-Francorchamps and Monaco.
Drivers complete almost 80% of a lap at full throttle at Silverstone, the third-highest percentage seen so far this season after Australia and Saudi Arabia
Drivers experience some of the highest lateral g-forces of the season at Silverstone with a maximum of 5.2g at Stowe (Turn 15). To give you some idea of what that means, the average weight of a human head with a helmet is 7kg, so the driver's neck is being pulled from side to side with a force of 35kg at this point.
Silverstone is something of a home race for the team. The Brackley factory is a mere nine miles away and the home of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains at Brixworth is just over 20 miles from the track.
The team has eight wins at Silverstone since returning to the sport in 2010 and has taken home a podium in each of the last 11 seasons.
Between 2013 and 2020, the team scored eight consecutive pole positions at the British Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, and Valtteri Bottas.
This is the third season in a row the team will have an all-British driver line-up at the British Grand Prix.
At nearly 650m, the run down to the first braking point is the second longest on the 2024 F1 calendar. Only Mexico (767.5m) is longer.