George Russell struggled badly within the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, solely managing fifth place after elevating considerations over whether or not he would even be capable of end the race
Mercedes’ deputy technical director Simone Resta pinned the blame for George Russell’s struggles on the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on the motive force himself. Russell might solely handle fifth place in Jeddah and struggled badly for tempo all through the race.
He had beforehand scored two third-place finishes and one second place within the opening 4 rounds of the season. However Mercedes ‘ efficiency suffered a nosedive on Sunday, with Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli additionally going through issues.
In the direction of the top of the Saudi GP, which was gained by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Russell raised considerations over whether or not he would end the race. The 27-year-old questioned the protection of his tyres amid excessive degredation.
Russell had began on the medium tyre earlier than switching to the hards 20 laps in. Mercedes’ pit wall satisfied the Englishman they’d no considerations over the state of his tyres and he did full the race.
However he completed a large 27 seconds behind chief Piastri, prompting considerations for the remainder of the season. Resta, who lately arrived on the Silver Arrows from Ferrari, although believes that Russell’s tyre points have been an issue all of his personal making.
READ MORE: Lance Stroll responds to undesirable F1 file with pointed McLaren declareREAD MORE: Max Verstappen slammed after ‘disrespectful’ act in direction of F1 rival noticed at Saudi GP
“We imagine it was primarily associated to tempo so he was pushing too laborious to stick with Charles and in addition defend with Norris and primarily, he misplaced the sting of the tyres and he paid the worth on the finish of the stint,” Resta advised Mercedes’ YouTube channel.
“In actuality within the race, we have been slightly bit much less aggressive than we thought and there may be work to do forward. We all know that typically we’ve received margin to seek out within the circumstances with the recent observe the place the tyres degrade an excessive amount of thermally, so we have to deal with this one for going into Miami.
“We’ll have the identical tyre compounds on a observe that’s anticipated to be fairly sizzling so there shall be potential similarities between Jeddah and Miami situation even when the pace is a bit much less stronger in Miami.
“It has been an excellent begin for this automotive. The automotive has been aggressive in every single place to this point. So we anticipate to be aggressive, battle for podium like we’ve finished within the preliminary races and attempt to enhance from what we have seen in Jeddah.”
Russell has admitted the being caught off-guard by the excessive degredation that he suffered throughout the second stint of the race. He stated: “An actual shock, actually fighting tyre overheating. I used to be holding on to the entrance two originally, simply by a thread.
“Then the second stint I used to be pushing so laborious to stick with them and abruptly my tyres received manner too sizzling and I dropped off the cliff and I used to be shedding a second lap within the final seven, eight laps.
“P5 is the place we deserve to complete however the efficiency was fairly underwhelming at the moment. This weekend was wanting actually robust, we did no laps in apply in the long term so I assume we couldn’t actually seize the truth that perhaps we weren’t on the tempo.
“It’s attention-grabbing, we didn’t anticipate to be so good in Bahrain and we anticipated to be stronger right here and it turned out to be the alternative, that’s the character of this sport and everyone seems to be working laborious to try to discover extra efficiency.”
Calling all George Russell followers!
Official merch from simply £7!
F1 Retailer
Store the George Russell vary
Have a good time the beginning of a brand new Formulation 1 season and present your assist for George Russell with official Mercedes F1 teamwear, merchandise and memorabilia now obtainable from the F1 Retailer.
