Hamilton Applauds Russell And Mercedes: 'To Be Three-Tenths Off Max, It’s Incredible'

Friday, 01 March 2024 at 21:30

Lewis Hamilton praised the whole Mercedes team for producing a 'fantastic car' and his teammate for delivering a P3 in qualification with it.

The 2024 Bahrain qualifying session saw three different teams in the top three: Max Verstappen from Red Bull on pole, Charles Leclerc from Ferrari in second place, and George Russell from Mercedes in P3.

Mercedes's pace from the FP2 suggested the team might be a real contender to the two favorites- Red Bull and Ferrari, but everything was uncertain until the end of the qualifying session.

Now, it is clear the top five teams are all very equally matched in terms of qualifying pace, and we have yet to find out how they compare in the race pace. Lewis Hamilton said after the race:

“"George's position is a testament to the job everyone has done at the factory and finally giving us a car that we can fight with."”

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While Russell will start the Saturday race at Bahrain International Circuit from the second row right behind Verstappen, the seven-time World Champion will start from the fifth row. The 39-year-old said:

“"I just didn't utilise that today when I made that set-up change. I put something on the car that we haven't put on for the last two years and I was hoping it would be ok. I decided to stick with it and yeah, it wasn't nice necessarily to drive."”

The British driver explained that he sacrificed some qualifying pace for an improved race pace. He obviously paid for it in the qualifying, and at the time of posting this article, we have yet to find out how the setup will work for him in the race.

“"The car is really fantastic, it is a real big improvement from the previous years. A lot more stable, a lot more fun to drive but we still have work to do as you can see."”

Hamilton added that there is still a lot of work ahead of his team, but the result of his teammate proves they have a solid platform on which to build.

“"But for George to be three-tenths off Max [Verstappen], it's incredible. It shows what's possible, and I think we just got to continue to add performance."”