George Russell delivered a damning evaluation of his Mercedes group’s efficiency within the F1 Imola Grand Prix – saying they have been “useless gradual” and fortunate to complete as excessive as they did.
Russell got here residence in seventh place whereas his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli retired from the race, because the group battled in opposition to rising temperatures.
Russell says the warmth is inflicting him and Mercedes a headache as they’ve poor efficiency when the temperatures go up – an issue stretching again to final 12 months that the group has been unable to unravel.
When requested if it was simply an unlucky weekend during which he failed to attain respectable factors, Russell instructed Sky Sports activities F1: “No, we have been undoubtedly not [with] dangerous luck, we have been simply useless gradual.
“I imply the traits are fairly clear, when it is sizzling we’re gradual, when it is chilly we’re fast, and that was the identical final 12 months. We have been doing the whole lot with the set-up to attempt to discover options, however there’s clearly one thing extra basic within the automotive.
“It isn’t the primary race of the season the place we have been slower than Ferrari, and even slower than Williams, or the identical tempo as Williams, however we have simply in some way managed to get a consequence out of it on these events. However as we speak, we have been very fortunate to complete P7, in all honesty.”
George Russell, Mercedes
Photograph by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Pictures through Getty Pictures
Russell says he recognized the issue on his reconnaissance lap to the grid for the beginning and reported the difficulty to his engineers, however they may not detect the supply of what was the reason for him to really feel uncomfortable with the automotive.
He added: “It was very odd. I imply on the laps to the grid I used to be reporting issues with the automotive and I believed one thing was flawed. The group had a superb go searching and noticed nothing and that feeling continued for 60-odd laps after.
“We do have a little bit of a basic [issue] as a result of both the fronts are overheating, or the rears are overheating, circuit to circuit. But it surely’s not the primary time we have reported that. So it was in all probability simply the primary time the place all of our rivals in all probability had a semi-decent race.”
Learn Additionally:
On this article
Ben Hunt
System 1
George Russell
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
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