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The two drivers of the Mercedes team are in disagreement over whether the improvement in car performance since Bahrain is genuine of track specific.
The season started in Bahrain with Mercedes comfortably the fourth fastest car on the grid. Since that time, the German team has shown improvement in the next two races - in Jeddah and Australia.
In Jeddah, George Russell almost secured a podium for the team while in Australia, the Mercedes driver secured a front-row start. Since the team has not brought any upgrades to the car, drivers were asked to explain the reason behind the surge in form during the post-qualifying press conference.
Both the drivers had differing points of view as Lewis Hamilton said that there was a likelihood of the improvements being track specific.
"I think it's perhaps track-specific, but I think ultimately there's no one in the team that's had their heads down, in terms of giving up, everyone's been working incredibly hard to try to squeeze the most out of what we currently have. We are, as George mentioned, a little bit down on downforce, where we really want to be. But everything came together today."
He added:
"So I mean, it feels amazing to be up here, either side of Max. And I really hope that tomorrow, we can somehow hold on to him. He might pull away into the distance like he has done in the past, but we'll give it our best shot."
Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell felt otherwise as he pointed out how the team had focussed on maximizing every tiny aspect of the car. He said that it helped the team secure a better result in Australia.
"For sure, we maximised the job today, no doubt about it, but we had a good qualifying last week in Jeddah. I didn't put my lap together in the last run in Jeddah, and was only a tenth off P3. So no, I don't think it's necessarily track specific. I do think we're making some improvement with the understanding of the car."
Russell added:
"Yeah, I don't really know. But for sure the tyres play a big factor. You know, when you get those tyres in the sweet spot, you make a big jump, and I think even I improved four-tenths maybe on my last, my last run in Q3. So unfortunately, it’s all tyres, tyres, tyres."
With the long-run pace a bit of an unknown for every team, it will be interesting to see if Mercedes could compete with Red Bull at Albert Park.
