Mercedes lauded for W15 turnaround after “we stopped believing them”

Mercedes have been credited for turning around the fortunes of the W15 to set up a mouth-watering F1 British Grand Prix.

George Russell is on pole position on Sunday at Silverstone, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

McLaren’s Lando Norris rounds off an all-Brit front three, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth.

The potential improvement that Mercedes hinted at from Montreal-onwards came to the fore on Saturday at Hamilton and Russell’s home race.

“Last year, and the start of this year, they struggled in high-speed corners,” Jenson Button said on Sky Sports.

“So to bring it here, and be that competitive, is a big deal for them. A massive step.

“For a car to work around here? It’s in a good place. Fair play to them.”

Naomi Schiff insisted that the F1 championship, long assumed to eventually be Verstappen’s fourth in a row, is no longer a formality.

“Max and Red Bull have quite a strong lead at the moment but, if those teams work smartly, they can close that gap,” she said.

“This can very much still be turned around.”

Schiff told Hamilton and Russell to work in-sync to thwart Verstappen: “They have to be smart about how they work [on Sunday]. They have to be careful on Laps 1 and 2.

“Make sure they work together to get ahead. Max will be on the charge, they will have worked on the car [overnight]. Max will be on the hunt.

“They need to work together to get that gap smaller to Red Bull.”

Schiff lauded the impact of James Allisson’s technical department: “The impressive thing is that they’ve worked at this car for a long time, they have brought upgrades time and time again which haven’t made the difference.

“Now they’ve put on this front wing in Montreal, they have unlocked the potential that they kept saying was in the car.

“We started to stop believing them.

“They’ve turned it around. To be quick here proves they might be in with a fighting chance for the rest of the season.”

Button also credited Russell whose mighty qualifying head-to-head advantage over Hamilton continued.

“Lewis is Mr. Saturday as well. That’s been a big part of his career,” Button said.

“Obviously he gets the deal done on Sundays but he always puts himself in a good position on Saturdays.

“George has done a fantastic job. It is set up for a mega British Grand Prix.

“Max will be on a charge…

“If [Hamilton and Russell] get away cleanly, they are in full control of what goes on behind them.”