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George Russell surprised by McLaren and Ferrari performance jump at Miami GP

George Russell has said he was “surprised” by the size of the performance jump McLaren and Ferrari made after sprint qualifying for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix. After Mercedes dominated the opening three rounds of the season, taking every pole position and race win, its control on the new campaign has been loosened as Lando Norris stormed to sprint race pole in Miami, beating ...Keep reading

motorsport.com·Mar 15

Peter Bonnington reveals touching Lewis Hamilton moment after Kimi Antonelli’s first F1 win

Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes race engineer Peter 'Bono' Bonnington said the Chinese Grand Prix podium celebrations were something he will "cherish". Describing it as "getting the band back together", Bonnington joined the podium celebrations as he accepted the constructors' trophy after Antonelli's maiden Formula 1 win. Completing the podium were Antonelli's Mercedes team-mate George Russell and ...Keep reading

racingnews365.com·Jan 29

Mercedes reveal impressive scale of 'encouraging' F1 2026 start

Mercedes has reached all of its objectives from the Barcelona shakedown after just two days of running. The Brackley-based squad enjoyed an encouraging opening day of on-track action on Monday as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli tallied up 151 laps between them. Mercedes returned to the track on Wednesday for their second of three allowed days and clocked another 183 laps - taking its total count for the week up to 334. It has not been bogged down by any major reliability concerns, which has allowed it to carry out its scheduled programme largely uninterrupted. “We’re pretty pleased with [Wednesday], obviously two days done out of the three,” trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said. “We’ve more or less ticked all our objectives from the first and the second [day]. “So really pleased with how the car has gone. We managed to do over two race distances [on Wednesday] with it. “Both drivers feeling that now - but the car was going strong at the end. So that was really encouraging.” Other teams have run into various issues, causing red flags after being forced to stop on the track. Shovlin suggested the disruptions from other teams are the biggest obstacles Mercedes is navigating to get through its programme. “Mileage, we are a bit ahead of where we'd hoped to be, so that's good,” he said. “Normally you’d expect to have a few teething problems, the odd reliability thing that costs you track time. “The car worked faultlessly. We're actually losing more track time from other people breaking down and causing red flags than for anything on our side. “In terms of data gathered, we're getting there, but as all the electrical systems are new, there's still quite a few issues that we're bottoming out with collecting the data and making sure everything is as accurate as we normally have it. “But as I said, we had a long list of objectives and if anything, we’re slightly ahead of where we expected to be on day two.”

racingnews365.com·Jan 28

George Russell writes off 'little-to-nothing' high as Mercedes pound out the miles

George Russell dismissed as "little or nothing" to be read into Mercedes table-topping times on a day when he and Kimi Antonelli delivered another astonishing lap count. Mercedes opened the five-day private test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya with an impressive total of 151 laps between its two drivers. On Wednesday, it improved its tally to 183, with Russell logging 92 and Antonelli 91. In total, across the two days, Mercedes has clocked 334 laps, or 1,555 kilometres, the equivalent of five Spanish Grands Prix. In addition, Antonelli and Russell were comfortably quickest, with the young Italian posting a time of 1:17.362s on the softs, two-tenths of a second faster than Russell. At this early stage, however, they effectively mean nothing. Assessing his second day behind the wheel of the W17, Russell said: "Everything went relatively smoothly from a reliability perspective, so that is good for our overall programme. "This test is all about getting mileage on the car and making sure everything functions as it should. That was the case today as Kimi and myself were able to put a large number of laps in again." Highlighting the conditions he was forced to operate in, however, Russell said: "The track temperature was in the low single-digits this morning, one of the coldest circuits I’ve ever driven on, so there’s little-to-nothing you can read into the times. "The excitement lies ahead once we head to Melbourne and get a sense of where we stack up against our competitors. "For now, we are putting in the hard work and enjoying the process of getting ready for the season ahead. We’ve still got one more day of running we can accomplish, which may be tomorrow, but will depend on the weather. "We’ve got more work we want to do, and we are in a good place to run on Thursday, but we will only do so if we are confident it will be dry." Antonelli highlights 'only real goal' Antonelli, who experienced the worst of the track conditions on Monday, was at least relieved to get a full session of running under his belt. "It was a better day on my side than Monday, where the wet track in the morning limited my running," said Antonelli. "We were able to run a full race distance this afternoon, building our mileage and getting lots of data for the team to work with. "This car is completely new and a big difference from last year, so I’m getting more used to it with every lap we complete. "It's constant learning for me as a driver and the team, too, so accumulating as much mileage as we can is very useful. "We have completed our programme on both days so far. That is the only real goal of this shakedown, and hopefully our third and final day of running goes smoothly. "That may be tomorrow if the weather looks to be dry; whatever the conditions we face either tomorrow or Friday, though, we are focused on adding to our mileage and putting ourselves in the best possible position before we head to Bahrain."