George kicks off the second in-season test of 2017
Date: Tuesday 1 August 2017
Driver: George Russell
Circuit: Hungaroring
Circuit Length: 4.381km
Laps Completed: 119
Distance Covered: 521km
Best Lap Time: 1:19.231
Weather Conditions: Dry, sunny, hot
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport completed 119 laps of the Hungaroring, as the second in-season test of 2017 kicked off in Hungary on Tuesday.
For the first time ever, George Russell was behind the wheel of the W08 EQ Power+ and ended the day in P4, clocking a 1:19.231 on the SuperSoft compound tyre in the afternoon.
- Today’s programme mainly focused on aero testing items for correlation with a vibration logging programme and some brake system work
- Valtteri completed 155 laps for the Pirelli programme on 2018 Slick tyre development
- Mercedes-Benz Power Units today completed a total of 518 laps or 2,269km
George Russell:
Today was incredible. I have been looking forward to this day for so long. It’s every young driver’s dream to drive a Formula 1 car. As soon as I got on track, I straightaway understood how much grip and downforce this car has got – it is amazing. 48 hours ago I was driving a GP3 car around the same track, but today was totally different. Luckily for me I had done lots of simulator work with Mercedes, so I knew what to expect. The biggest difference is the power steering in the Formula 1 car, and I could feel that as soon as I got out on track. And the braking potential is enormous. I was expecting the speed on the straight and the downforce in the corners, as everyone does. But I don’t think anyone quite understands the braking power of this machine. In GP3 we enter into Turn 1 at about 260 or 270 km/h, braking at the 100 metre board. Today, I was going in at almost 300 km/h, braking 25 metres after what I would do in GP3. Today mostly consisted of longer runs with higher fuel loads. We wanted to see the degradation of the tyres, and mainly trying to work for the race simulations. I was quite happy with my performance. For my first time in the car, completing 119 laps and not being far from Valtteri – I’m pretty pleased with that.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps Completed | Best Lap Time |
| 01 | Charles Leclerc (32) | Ferrari | 98 | 1:17.746 |
| 02 | Stoffel Vandoorne (2) | McLaren | 72 | 1:17.834 |
| 03 | Valtteri Bottas (77) | Pirelli | 155 | 1:18.732 |
| 04 | George Russell (63) | Mercedes | 119 | 1:19.231 |
| 05 | Lance Stroll (18) | Williams | 138 | 1:19.866 |
| 06 | Nikita Mazepin (34) | Force India | 52 | 1:19.910 |
| 07 | Nicholas Latifi (45) | Renault | 54 | 1:20.302 |
| 08 | Sean Gelael (38) | Toro Rosso | 101 | 1:20.341 |
| 09 | Lucas Auer (35) | Force India | 54 | 1:20.563 |
| 10 | Santino Ferrucci (50) | Haas | 102 | 1:21.185 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen (33) | Red Bull | 58 | 1:21.228 |
| 12 | Gustav Malja (36) | Sauber | 108 | 1:21.503 |
Source : Mercedes.com
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