Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff and driver Lewis Hamilton believe the squad can claim its first win of 2022 on Sunday, with George Russell set to start the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole.
Russell got one over the two Ferrari F1-75s in the closing stages of qualifying on Saturday, and will head the field into action at a track that is not known as much of an overtaking hotbed due to its lack of long straights – even if the evolution of F1 cars means it’s not quite the ‘Monaco without walls’ that it used to be regarded as.
Of the last five races at the Hungaroring, three were won by the driver starting on pole – and because the Mercedes W13 has been a much more convincing package in race trim than in qualifying, Wolff suggested he had genuine belief in a victory bid on Sunday.
“We just need to write down everything we did this morning, including the food and the drinks we had, in order to be able to replicate,” he joked to Sky Sports F1.
“I don’t know how you say it in English, one bird [swallow] doesn’t make a summer. That’s a solid result. We were always off the pace on a single lap, now we’re on pole, so let’s see what we can do with that tomorrow, in the race, and if we’re able to have the pace there, I believe that we’re part of the funny games in the front again.
“I think if he [Russell] can maintain the position at the start and be first coming out of the first lap, and drive a solid race, have good stops – why not? We can win this.”
Asked whether he foresaw Mercedes taking it to Ferrari today, he said: “Yeah, I think so. We haven’t been in the hunt for wins this season. We know how quick Ferrari was all the time. Charles [Leclerc] was solid in the lead in the last race.
“Max [Verstappen in the Red Bull] is a bit further behind, which is also not bad for an end result [on Sunday]… ”
Hamilton, who was stymied by a late DRS issue and qualified only seventh, was even more emphatic in expressing his belief Russell could win.
“I’ll do what I can tomorrow to support him,” said Hamilton. “He should be able to win from that position, at this track, and I’ll try and work my way up.”
For his part, Russell was beaming about the turnaround from “probably our toughest Friday of the season”, in which failed set-up experiments left Mercedes “feeling lost”, into a qualifying in which the team could get the Pirelli rubber and all the other parameters in the right operating window.
He was therefore more reserved about his victory hopes, acknowledging that the race pace in the W13 was a “total unknown” as “we turned the car upside down since yesterday”.
“High-fuel pace was probably the worst it’s ever been yesterday, and Ferrari looked pretty exceptional,” Russell said.
“There may be some things we did last night that improved our quali pace but maybe hurt our race pace. Could be a one-stop, could be a three-stop, we don’t know.
“If it’s a two/three-stop race, it will be difficult to defend from the Ferraris because they can split their strategies.
“We just have to be fast, if we’re fast, we can win.”
He also said of his emotions after pole: “To be honest, I’m already thinking about tomorrow. I’m thinking about the run off the line, Turn 1, how I can try and keep the lead, and what I’m going to have to do to win the race.
“Getting a pole position is great, having a good Saturday is great, but as I learned quite a lot last year, and as I’ve also learned a lot this year, Saturday doesn’t mean a huge amount.”
