"McLaren are still ahead but nice to see we are ahead of Ferrari”: George Russell reacts after Austrian GP sprint

After finishing P4 in the Sprint race at the Austrian GP on Saturday, Mercedes driver George Russell claimed that as a team, they are ahead of Ferrari but still a little bit behind the likes of McLaren and Red Bull. The British driver lost his P4 slot at the beginning of the race to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz but was able to recover and made the pass in the final few laps at the Red Bull Ring.

Despite making the pass and regaining the P4 slot, Russell could not close down to the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri or the Red Bull of Max Verstappen as he used all his battery attacking Sainz.

Speaking with Sky Sports, George Russell assessed the Mercedes's pace compared to its nearest rivals and said:

"It was one of the slightly more interesting Sprint races for me with the battle at the front and then Carlos. As soon as I passed Carlos, I couldn't break the DRS for a few laps, but it was OK."

"McLaren are still ahead but nice to see we are ahead of Ferrari. We will be making a few changes but the car is in a reasonably good place. We seem to be a tenth-and-a-half behind Max and the McLarens," Russell added.

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George Russell praises Mercedes progress after Austrian GP Sprint

Mercedes driver George Russell stated that he was happy with the progress that they as a team had made since the start of the season. He reflected that in the first few races, they were battling with Aston Martin and RB while now they are fighting at the front.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the Brit said:

"I think the progress we're making as a team is massive and if you compare with the likes of Aston Martin or RB who we were fighting with at the start of the year we're sort of strides ahead."

"But McLaren are also doing a really great job and they seem to have made a big leap throughout this season too."

After his P4 finish in the Sprint race on Saturday, George Russell has closed down the gap to Oscar Piastri in P6 in the Driver's Championship to just eight points after ten races and three Sprints so far in the 2024 season.

He also extended his gap to his teammate Lewis Hamilton behind him to 13 points as the latter finished P6 in the Austria GP Sprint. A positive 23-laps to the dash also helped Mercedes extend their gap to Aston Martin as they finished P4 and P6 as compared to the Silverstone-based team's P10 and P15.

The German team are currently P4 in the Constructor's Championship on 159 points with Aston Martin lagging 101 points behind in P5 with 58 points.