Mercedes driver George Russell expressed the view that the speed of the Mercedes W13 car is more important than its visual impression.
Russell drove a sideless box version of the W13 on the afternoon of the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, a car that surprised paddock observers with its unusual design. Rumors have not only said that Mercedes' car will have a very different look, but it will be very fast, however, on the first day of testing, only the first one was confirmed, as for the second one, it was not seen, because Russell and Lewis Hamilton were ninth and eleventh respectively in the lap table. Of course, this may not be a true reflection of the speed of the car, but it also illustrates a certain problem.
There has been talk of protests against the W13, which F1 general manager Ross Brown has called "a very extreme interpretation of the rules", but if the car is found to be legitimate, Russell thinks it should be judged solely on its performance.
Russell said at a news conference: "I think it looks interesting, but the question is not how it looks, but how fast it runs. This morning, it clearly caught some people's eye. On my side, I'm proud to be part of a team that drives innovation, and it's incredible that all this hard work has been put into an amazing thing. But as I said, it doesn't matter what it looks like, we need to see if it can move fast on the track. ”
Unlike Mercedes, the best performer and most stable in the test phase was Ferrari, which did not escape Russell's attention, and Ferrari may have turned its attention to the development of the 2022 car during the time when The Messpen and Red Bull are competing for the title.
Russell said: "At the moment, Ferrari looks like it could be the strongest. If you look at their side boxes, they are very different from those of us and Red Bull. ”