"There was always optimism" - George Russell feels Mercedes getting on top of porpoising in 5 races is 'incredibly impressive'

George Russell has praised Mercedes for quickly getting on top of the W13’s porpoising issues, saying that the speed at which the team found solutions to their problems was “impressive”.

Given that the issues were inherent to the car’s design philosophy, Russell says he wasn’t expecting a quick solution. Speaking ahead of the 2022 F1 Monaco GP, he added that the quick turnaround was “inspiring,” and said:

“From previous experience, I know just how tough it is sometimes to overcome some inherent difficulties within the car. We knew we weren’t going to be able to achieve it overnight. But being able to solve this issue in the space of five races is still incredibly impressive. So, six races in we can get cracking now. I think that’s pretty inspiring and really thankful to everybody back at [the factory] who have been working relentlessly to find the solutions.”

Mercedes seemed to be in a much more comfortable position at the Spanish GP last weekend after bringing in a plethora of upgrades aimed at solving porpoising.

The new parts seem to have worked as intended, allowing the team to finally unlock the much-touted potential of the W13, with both George Russell and his teammate Lewis Hamilton displaying impressive speed throughout the race.

While the Barcelona upgrades finally brought some much-needed relief to the reigning world champions, Russell has claimed that they never lost believing in themselves. He added, saying:

“There was always optimism, I don’t think the morale was ever lost, because we always believed that we’d be able to find this performance sooner rather than later.”

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Younger generation F1 drivers respect each other more, says George Russell

George Russell has claimed that the younger generation of F1 drivers have more respect for each other given that they have practically grown up together.

Having raced each other for more than a decade, Russell believes drivers such as Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon, and himself know each other’s limits well. He said:

“All of the youngsters know each other pretty well. We know the style we have, how aggressive each one is and how they like to race, how they like to drive. Equally, I think there’s even more respect as well because we’ve known each other for longer and we’ve battled each other for longer so yeah, definitely enjoyed it.”

Russell had a great battle for the lead with Verstappen at last week’s Spanish GP. Despite racing wheel-to-wheel, the pair left each other plenty of space and delivered an entertaining race.