With two single seats damaged during the third quarter, Friday at Red Bull RingThe mechanics had a lot of work at Mercedes. In principle, both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be able to start from their top ten positions this afternoon in the sprint race, with the replaced parts respecting Park Fermi’s terms.

On Saturday morning, at the team managers’ press conference, Toto Wolff gave an update on the fixes. The W13s have particularly fresh ground and their gearboxes have been carefully checked. This is in addition to the replacement of many other less bulky items. “Yesterday in the garage, early in the evening, it looked as if someone had knocked a Lego on the floor”Mercedes manager, trusts.

Emphasizing the exceptional work of the mechanics, the Austrian reiterated his remarks the day before, stressing that he had no complaints against his drivers for the two mistakes they made in qualifying.

“The last corners that Lewis attacked were the quickest [au chronomètre]”he explains. “Can we fight for first place? I’m not sure, but we would probably have been the tenth and tenth and a half of the leaders…in a track where our car wasn’t so good before. So there is progress.”

On Friday evening, Lewis Hamilton expressed great disappointment while he was unable to explain precisely the reasons why he lost control of Turn 7. George Russell’s exit from the track, presenting the parallels, raised questions, but Mercedes prefers a very large attack scenario in both the two cases.

“It’s still complicated to drive, and now that we can fight for the top positions, I’m really happy to see them attacking”confirms Toto Wolff. “In the previous corner, Lewis was 10 km/h faster, took turn 6 and got in at 10 km/h in the [7]And he didn’t take the role.

“It’s a bit similar for George. He saw that he was way ahead of the Delta time. That was a special trait in the previous Grand Prix, and he went very far. And while there were windy conditions or other conditions, I think the summary is that the car is tough to drive but faster.” Now, that’s totally fine for me.”

George Russell will start fourth in the sprint at 4:30pm, Lewis Hamilton will start ninth.