George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's race in second and third after a "surprisingly" good Qualifying; watch the Australian GP live on Sunday at 6am on Sky Sports F1, with build-up from 4:30am
Sunday 2 April 2023 06:01, UK
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are bidding to fight for victory at the Australian Grand Prix after securing an "unexpected" second and third place on the grid in Qualifying.
The Mercedes team have openly voiced their concerns over their car this year after a slow start to the season, team principal Toto Wolff changing their design philosophy after just the first race in Bahrain.
However, they have since started to pick up their pace, culminating in a brilliant Qualifying session in Australia as Russell came home in second behind Max Verstappen, his team-mate Hamilton just half a tenth behind in third after briefly topping the timesheets in Q3.
Mercedes capitalised on Sergio Perez's Q1 crash which sees him start at the back of the grid, and they will be the only team to have both drivers next to each other on the starting grid.
And for Hamilton, it is "surreal" to see his team back close to the top as he targets a first win since 2021.
"This is totally unexpected. Really proud of the team," said Hamilton.
"George did an amazing job there today so for us to be up on the front two rows is honestly a dream for us.
"We are all working as hard as we can to get right back up to the front so to be this close to Red Bull is incredible.
"Hopefully tomorrow we can give them a run for their money and we hope the weather is good.
"I am super grateful for this position and I am just going to work as hard as I can tomorrow.
"(My goal) is to get to first.
"We have to accept that they're going to be a quarter of a second, half a second quicker than us, but maybe in the tow, we can just about hold on.
"The fact that there's two of us and one Red Bull, with strategy, maybe we can apply some pressure to them, so we'll see.
"It was very, very surreal to see us at the top for a second."
Although Hamilton is targeting at least a podium place, he will have competition from his team-mate, who has outqualified him in all three races in 2023, as Russell admitted his ambition is to "go for the win".
"We've got to go for it, haven't we? We've got to go for the win," said Russell.
"Max is going to be extremely fast, there's no hiding that.
"I think it's difficult to overtake around this circuit, so the start, lap one is going to be vital.
"But the Red Bull has extraordinary top speed, so it's going to be very difficult to fight with Max, but let's see."
Not only was Russell delighted with Qualifying, he was pleased with how "awesome" the car felt and admitted it has changed his expectations for the weekend as a whole.
"The car felt alive, the lap at the end was right on the limit and to be honest I'm a little bit disappointed that we didn't get pole position," added Russell.
"It's one of those things where your expectations change so quickly in this sport.
"We would have been happy with a top four, top five yesterday.
"The car felt awesome and we've definitely got potential still to come."
Many will be wondering how Mercedes have found such improvement without any upgrades, but Russell believes extracting more and more out of a tricky car is what the team does best.
"There is so much you can do with the set-ups," he said.
"How soft or stiff you run the car, the ride heights you run it at, the mechanical balance.
"Also getting the most out of the tyres, change of tyre pressures, faster out laps, slower out laps.
"When you maximise everything together you are able to make a big jump.
"I think that is what this team does best is really developing over the course of the year, even with the same package they have always had."
The shock for Mercedes was shared by the pole-sitter Verstappen who admitted he was "surprised" to see the Mercs lining up just behind him.
"I'm a little bit surprised, they are also a little bit surprised, but I guess that's a good thing," said Verstappen.
"It's all about having those tyres in the right window and I guess they did a good job of that as well."
Watch the Australian Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend -Sunday's race is live at 6am. Get Sky Sports
