Mercedes has released George Russell and Lewis Hamilton from all media activities after the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix: “Suffering from overheating”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed that both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were suffering from “overheating” after both drivers stayed away from Formula 1’s media duties after a grueling Singapore Grand Prix.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has accepted Mercedes’ request that the drivers skip the media duties due to their condition after 62 grueling laps of the Marina Bay Circuit. It was the first Singapore Grand Prix since its introduction in 2008 that the race was not interrupted by a safety car deployment.
This meant that the drivers had no respite from the typically hot and humid conditions, with Russell describing his cockpit as a sauna over the team radio during the closing stages. Asked about the state of health of his driver pairing, Wolff says: “They are both suffering from overheating, but they are fine now. They have been in the ice baths and I think that has helped a bit.”
Wolff admits strategy mistake: ‘Misread the race’
Hamilton started from third place on the grid but only finished sixth, with a set of soft tires for his first stint proving to be a stumbling block for his race. Russell came home fourth, albeit over a minute behind eventual winner Lando Norris.
Wolff admits that Mercedes “read the race wrong” and explains the reasoning behind the decision to start Hamilton on the soft tire – a compound used by only one other driver early in the race, Daniel Ricciardo.
“We made a decision based on historic Singapore races, where it’s basically a procession, similar to Monaco, and that the soft tire would give him a chance at the start,” says Wolff. “That was pretty much the only overtaking opportunity. It was the wrong decision, made by all of us together.“
Wolff: Behind Norris ‘hard to accept’
”It felt like a good advantage, but with the rear tire we had, there was only one opportunity and that was backwards. So there was logic behind it, but obviously it was the opposite of what we should have decided, but it doesn’t hide the fact that the car is too slow.
“It was a really painful evening. It doesn’t matter if you look at the positions, fourth and sixth, that’s not good, especially when you start third and fourth. The car… we are struggling at the moment on hot tracks where traction is difficult – here and in Baku. But that’s no excuse.“
”It’s just not what we expect of ourselves at the moment, because when your fastest car is a minute behind the leader, it’s just hard to accept.”
