Mercedes is excited about how competitive it could become in the second half of the season after seeing its progress rewarded with a double podium in the French Grand Prix, according to George Russell.
Lewis Hamilton finished second ahead of Russell as the Mercedes pair beat Sergio Perez on pure pace, while also benefiting from Charles Leclerc crashing out and Carlos Sainz starting from the back of the grid.
Although Russell acknowledges Leclerc and Max Verstappen have a clear advantage at present, the fact Mercedes is fighting with the second Ferrari and Red Bull cars is giving reason to be optimistic for what’s to come.
on we can develop a car in now, and that’s something it took us probably a good eight or nine races to truly understand what makes this iteration of car go fast. So, I think we’re excited for the second half of the season.”
Russell got the better of Perez after a close fight in the closing stages of Sunday’s race, after initially being frustrated that he was not handed the position when he forced the Mexican to cut the chicane.
