Mercedes, the German carmaker, hasn’t had a good start to the 2024 season. They haven’t been on the podium yet, and they’re in fourth place in the constructors’ championship. They’re just one point ahead of Aston Martin. But George Russell, a Mercedes driver, believes that even tiny things can change their luck, and a little bit more speed can make a big difference.
Russell said before the Chinese Grand Prix that small things matter a lot. He thinks if they could improve their qualifying time by just a fraction of a second, they would be much higher on the starting grid. He also mentioned that their strategy choices during the races would have been different if they had qualified better.
Mercedes has been struggling, especially in fast corners, at recent tracks like Jeddah, Australia, and Suzuka. These tracks don’t suit the characteristics of their car. But Russell believes that the Chinese Grand Prix might be different. The Shanghai track has more medium- and low-speed corners, which could suit their car better.
Russell sees this race as a good test for Mercedes. He wants to see how they compare to McLaren, who are strong in fast corners but weak in slow ones. He believes there’s more potential for Mercedes to show what they can do. He thinks they haven’t used their car and set it up properly in the last few races, and they’re trying to improve that.
Lewis Hamilton, Russell’s teammate, mentioned that Mercedes won’t have any new upgrades for the Shanghai race. But they’ve learned important lessons from the last race in Japan. They’ve made some improvements and want to apply them in Shanghai. Hamilton thinks they could have done things differently in Japan if they had known better, so they’re using that knowledge to find more speed in Shanghai.
