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George Russell is focusing on a podium end for Mercedes this weekend after the crew loved one among its strongest Friday performances of the season up to now.
He sat out the primary of the day’s periods whereas Nyck de Vries made his remaining look for the crew as a Friday apply driver. Through the tyre testing session later within the day, Russell was one among a handful of drivers who was capable of run 2022 rubber, and put his Mercedes on high of the instances.
In the identical session Lewis Hamilton lapped quickest of the drivers who solely ran Pirelli’s growth 2023 rubber. The efficiency supported crew principal Toto Wollf pre-weekend prediction that the monitor would go well with their automotive which has carried out finest on high-downforce circuits.
“Right this moment was one among our higher Fridays, if not the most effective of the yr up to now,” stated Russell after apply. “The automotive is working effectively and it felt good driving on this monitor.”
All yr lengthy Mercedes have grappled with the issue of their W13 being much less aggressive over a single flying lap. Russell doubts that can change on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“The tempo was comparatively sturdy, however we all know the challenges at this circuit,” he stated. “For qualifying, the problem shall be to get the tyres in the correct window for the only lap run. And on Sunday, it will likely be tough to handle temperatures for the engine and for the brakes.”
He believes “a podium end ought to hopefully be doable for us this weekend, in order that’s what we shall be aiming for,” however admitted the disrupted Saturday periods made it tough to get a learn on their rivals.
“Not having the traditional FP2 operating, the place we get to evaluate the long-run efficiency of our rivals, doesn’t enable us to grasp the place our opponents are and that may change into an enormous problem if we are going to battle with tyre temperatures through the race,” he stated.
“We take some very helpful learnings about tyre temperature administration for subsequent yr and shall be working laborious in a single day because it’s not going to be an easy weekend for certain, however constructive learnings for us immediately.”
The crew’s head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin was additionally content material with their day’s work. “From what we will inform the automotive is working effectively on each single lap and long term,” he stated. “The stability isn’t excellent so we’ve received areas to work on in a single day, however an inexpensive begin at what is generally a really difficult circuit.”
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2022 Mexican Grand Prix
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