George Russell says his first taste of the 2022 Mercedes Formula 1 car in Friday’s Silverstone shakedown was “the windiest day in my whole motorsport career”.
The British Grand Prix venue is located in the East Midlands region of England, which is among the regions currently being hit by Storm Eunice and is subject to an amber weather warning.
Mercedes unveiled its new-liveried W13 on Friday and it took to the track later in the day, in what is a traditional Silverstone shakedown run for the Brackley-based team ahead of the official start of pre-season testing at Barcelona.
Russell gave the car its first run-out and described the conditions on track as “absolutely crazy”, though indicated his on-track programme was not actively disrupted.
We've missed that sound. 🎶🤩 pic.twitter.com/EvlxgFKjCp
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 18, 2022
“I’m not too sure how many of you are in the UK at the moment, or if you can actually hear the wind through the windows at the moment, but it’s the windiest day I’ve ever experienced in my whole motorsport career,” he told media in a virtual session after driving.
“It was absolutely crazy. But we managed to keep the car on the black stuff and to be honest, we just went through the programme of just running it, making sure I’m comfortable, which I am.
“The car handled largely as we expected, but equally with these conditions in the wet, and with the wind, there’s not a huge amount you can take from it. So far, we’re in a good place. I think we’re in a good window ahead of Barcelona.”
Russell said seeing the car being fired up for the first time earlier on Friday gave him “goosebumps”.
“I’ve driven so many laps in the simulator. I’ve seen so many drawings of it. I’ve had so many meetings about it,” he said.
“But there’s nothing like going to a racetrack.
“It almost brings me back to my roots, a cold, wet windy day at Silverstone,” added Russell, whose “roots” include being a karting standout in Great Britain and the champion of the UK-based BRDC Formula 4 series.
“If you take the exact same car, when there’s no wind and then you put it in 100 kilometre-per-hour winds today, it’s going to feel very difficult to drive. It certainly wasn’t easy out there with the conditions.
“But it was very much in line with what we saw at the simulator. And I’ll be going back [in the simulator] correlating this afternoon.
“It’s going to be a constant learning process, I think we’re all going to take today with a pinch of salt and just get through the programme, make sure the car runs OK, make sure the drivers are comfortable.”
The British weather delivered. ☂️🌧 But we’re not going to be put off by a bit of rain. 😉 pic.twitter.com/qnz941tQu6
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 18, 2022
