Because the two Mercedes drivers were not aggressive enough on the outlap, they could not bring the tires into the right window – penalty for George Russell
Mercedes blames a slow outlap for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell only finishing fifth and sixth on the grid in qualifying for the 2023 Formula 1 race in Brazil. Both should have been more aggressive on their warm-up lap – just like the two Aston Martins or world champion Max Verstappen.
Both Mercedes actually had a good starting position at the beginning of Q3 and had driven onto the track behind the two Aston Martins with the threat of rain. However, they did not use this opportunity to get their tires into the right working window.
While Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll did everything they could to get the tires up to temperature on their outlaps, Hamilton and Russell took a more cautious approach. Russell was even overtaken on the way out of the pits by eventual pole-setter Max Verstappen, who was also driving aggressively.
“You can see how small the differences are with the outlaps and the temperatures, and I don’t think we were adaptable enough,” Head of Motorsport Toto Wolff told Sky. “The Aston Martins simply pulled away. Max, who had just come out of the garage on warm tires, also pulled away and they were the fastest cars.”
“We were one second slower than before or eight tenths slower than the best time, and that shows what we should have done,” said the Austrian, who believes that any grid position between one and eight would have been possible in these conditions.
Lining up early was right, but …
Mercedes’ chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin believes that lining up in the pit lane was the right thing to do, but says that Mercedes did not take the tire temperature factor into account.
“For our final run, we left the garage early and lined up at the end of the pit lane,” he says. “It was clearly right to be at the front of the field, but we had lost too much tire temperature while we were waiting for clearance.”
“As a result, we didn’t have good grip at the start of the lap. That was particularly costly because the track was damp due to the rain. “
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, believes that the gap to Verstappen, which ended up being 0.742 seconds, was not really representative of Mercedes’ pace compared to Red Bull.
“Finishing fifth is never that great,” he says. “I gave it my best shot. Hopefully we will have a better race. The car showed signs of good performance. But we are usually a few tenths behind the leaders. I think the circumstances at the end, the conditions, maybe put us a bit further back. “
Russell still believes in the podium, …
George Russell describes how he was “just sliding around” on his lap and had no grip at all. “I didn’t see that much rain on my visor,” he wondered. “I was a second off my old pace and wanted to come into the pits because I was sure I’d be last, but I’m sixth. “
He praises: “The team did a good job, the car performed well.” He therefore believes that a podium on Sunday is “definitely” still possible. The two Aston Martins will start ahead of the two Mercedes, which are rather surprisingly on the second row and could have the worse race pace – at least Russell hopes so.
He does not expect a battle against Max Verstappen, but Charles Leclerc could still be a factor, who has a good starting position in second place, but usually struggles with the tires. “I expect two or three stops,” says Russell. “Anything is possible. “
.. but takes a penalty
UPDATE: To make matters worse for Russell, however, he has to move down two places on the grid on Sunday. He had blocked Pierre Gasly at the pit exit, which has been prohibited since this weekend following a clarification from race director Niels Wittich.
The race stewards’ reasoning states: “Russell left the pits and prepared for an outlap. Russell drove slowly to create a gap for a clear lap but did not manage to stay on the far left.”
“As a result, following cars were unable to overtake as per the race director’s instructions. This is clearly contrary to the wording and spirit of point 14 of the Race Director’s ‘Event Notes’. “
