Federer watches Spanish Grand Prix qualifying in Mercedes garage
Advantage Roger! Federer watches Spanish Grand Prix qualifying in Mercedes garage alongside Toto Wolff and takes snap with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton – as British pair qualify fourth and sixth respectively for Sunday’s race
- The Swiss 20-time Grand Slam winner is photographed in the Mercedes garage
- Mercedes see car upgrades take shape as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell see improvements in laps
- Hamilton says thank you to those who have worked on improving the cars
- Mercedes looked to resolve the porpoising issue that had hampered them
Roger Federer joined up with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes looked to claw back ground in the constructors and drivers championships.
Brits Russell and Hamilton qualified fourth and sixth on the grid respectively as the car improvements made by Mercedes took shape.
Watching on from the team garage, the 20-time Grand Slam winner took in the qualifying laps alongside Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
Roger Federer was photographed alongside Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the garage
Tweeting what proved to an extremely popular picture of the two Mercedes drivers alongside Federer, the team said: ‘Here’s the Lewis Hamilton, Roger Federer and George Russell content you ordered.’
Before adding: ‘Great to have you with us for Quali, Roger!’
Federer watched from the garage as both Hamilton and Russell saw significant improvements in their car from the opening few weeks to the season.
Watching on with Toto Wolff, the tennis great took in the qualifying action from the pits
Both drivers noted the improvements when speaking after qualifying, with Hamilton notable for saying that he was ‘super happy’ with the progress made.
He said: ‘It is positive. I am super happy with the progress. We’re not the quickest yet but I think we’re on our way.’
Meanwhile, his teammate Russell said that Mercedes could keep their impressive showing going into the weekend, saying: ‘I see no reason why we can’t be as far away from the front [in qualifying] as we showed [today].’
Lewis Hamilton said the car upgrade had garnered notable performance improvements
Mercedes used a car upgrade prior to the Spanish Grand Prix to, amongst other things, resolve their ‘porpoising’ or bouncing, problem.
It is a problem that has burdened Mercedes all year and finally they appear to have resolved it.
Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying: ‘The team have done such a great job, so big big thank you to everyone at both factories.
George Russell was bullish in saying that he felt the team could compete even further
‘We don’t have bouncing in a straight line, which is a huge improvement for us, and the car has generally been nicer this weekend.
‘We do have some bouncing through the high speed corners like turn three and turn nine, so we just need to keep working away at that and gain a little bit more downforce.
‘I’m a little bit gutted because I want to be a little bit further ahead, and George [Russell] has been able to, but I’ll keep pushing.
‘Yesterday was our best race pace that we’ve had [in the practice sessions.] If we can start racing the Ferraris that would be amazing. The Red Bulls look like they might be quickest but if we can compete with Ferrari tomorrow that’s a big step for us.’
Lewis Hamilton (left) said he was a ‘little bit gutted’ with where he qualified, notably behind teammate Russell
Share this article
Source: Read Full Article