'There you can see what no car on the planet can do'
F1 News
James Allison - the technical boss at Mercedes - was excited about it: George Russell's victory last weekend in the Austrian Grand Prix felt like an early Christmas present. At the same time, the Briton argued in the Mercedes debrief, the win meant payback for all of the hard work from the team at the factory.
Looking back on the final laps before the victory - the first since Brazil 2022 - was a special moment: "Tense would be an understatement! We believed George had got the pace to do that and to stay in front of the other cars.
"We also knew that Piastri had a fair term of speed. We also had seen George not exactly flying on the Hard tyre at the beginning of his stint and we didn't know whether he was just sort of biding his time, saving his rubber, able to then push later on, or whether that was all he had to offer," said Allison, who admitted it was nail-biting. "It was a great relief when the car crossed the line in first place, along with George's ‘yabba dabba doos’ or whatever it was he was saying over the radio."
Mercedes to Silverstone with updates
Next weekend at Silverstone, Mercedes are keen to repeat the success, when all team members - some for the first time - attend the Grand Prix. "Silverstone is one of the classic circuits, where I think F1 cars always look fantastic. The Maggots Becketts complex, seeing what no other car on the planet can do, is brilliant," Allison said.
"It's going to be interesting to find out whether we can continue the progress that we've made race-on-race for the last handful of races. Whether we can get a bit closer to that couple of cars that seem to just persistently be a couple of tenths ahead of us. We’re looking forward to seeing whether the small bits and pieces we're bringing to Silverstone allow us that ongoing improvement. Loads of things to be looking forward to, and I can't wait for it."