George Russell highlights the performance gap between Mercedes and his own results.
A challenging weekend for Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Mercedes experienced a tough weekend during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, marked by contrasting performances. At the center of this event was George Russell, who managed to secure a podium finish in Baku, largely due to incidents involving Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez. While Russell finished in third place, his teammate Lewis Hamilton could only achieve a modest ninth position after starting from the pit lane.
Russell’s perspective on the tire challenges.
Despite his unexpected third-place finish, George Russell wasn’t on course for such a result in Baku. He capitalized on mistakes by Perez and Sainz in the closing stages of the race to seize the opportunity. Meanwhile, Hamilton expressed difficulties with the balance of his car, while Russell faced struggles with his medium tires during the first stint.
“We need to understand what happened during the race, because in the last stint, the car felt like it could comfortably win. However, in the first stint, we didn’t even deserve to be in the top 10. The only difference was the tires,” Russell said after the race.
He further explained the unpredictable performance variations related to the tires: “We’re not the only team facing this issue, but it’s very frustrating when you don’t understand why there are such performance gaps between sessions like Q1 and Q2, or from one stint to another.”
Is Mercedes ready to bounce back in Singapore?
In 2023, Mercedes was competitive in Singapore, with both drivers fighting for the win. However, George Russell failed to overtake Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, despite having fresher tires, due to Sainz’s clever strategy, which allowed Norris to benefit from DRS. Unfortunately for Russell, his race ended in the barriers on the final lap.
When asked about his expectations for the upcoming Singapore race, Russell remained cautious: “I have no idea what to expect, honestly. During the race in Baku, we had a car capable of winning based on our pace in half of the race. But in the other half, it didn’t even deserve to be in the top 10. I hope we have the faster version in Singapore.”
