Heat issues for both Mercedes drivers in Singapore

The Singapore Grand Prix lived up to its reputation. Known to be one of the most demanding races of the season despite the late hour, Sunday’s race once again put a strain on the drivers’ bodies, especially those of the two Mercedes drivers. Indeed, at the end of the 62 laps that make up the Singapore Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were seen to be particularly exhausted, due to the persistently high humidity level and the absence of a safety car for the first time on this circuit. This forced all the drivers to give their all for over an hour and a half. However, the two team drivers seemed to have been the most affected, with Russell explaining during the race that he felt like he was in a sauna, a phenomenon that had also been observed in Monza.

The two Mercedes drivers suffered from heatstroke.

Sunday evening, the two drivers were not present in the mixed zone for post-race interviews, the FIA having accepted Mercedes’ request to let the two Britons rest. Unfortunately, neither George nor Lewis will attend the media paddock tonight, as they recover from the efforts of tonight’s race, a spokesman for the German team explained.

The team principal, Toto Wolff, nevertheless wanted to explain the reasons for this sudden absence. « They were not feeling well, suffering from a borderline heatstroke or something like that, but they drank water. They wouldn’t have been able to go to the media paddock. » The Austrian wanted to reassure everyone by giving good news about the health of his drivers. « There was no resentment or annoyance. Doctors were with them. But they are fine. They took ice baths, and I think that helped them a little. »

A poorly optimized strategy for Hamilton

Mercedes boss took the opportunity to discuss the Singapore race, a race where Mercedes were left behind compared to the front runners, especially McLaren. The Austrian was disappointed by the pace of the car, which seems to suffer more than others in the high temperatures. “It was a very painful evening,” Wolff continues. “We need to look at the positions, fourth and sixth, it’s not good, especially when starting third and fourth. We are facing difficulties at the moment on circuits where the heat is high and difficult for traction, like here and in Baku. But that’s not an excuse. It’s just that right now, it’s not what we expect from ourselves, because if our fastest car is a minute behind the leader, it’s hard to accept.”

On his side, the seven-time world champion expressed his frustration with the strategy adopted by his team, which made him start on soft tires, which quickly degraded, while everyone else had mediums. The Briton deplored to his engineer Peter Bonnington the situation in which he found himself, being one of the first to have to stop at the pits and forced to make some overtaking maneuvers in traffic. In Mercedes’ post-race press release, Hamilton didn’t hide his disappointment. It is difficult to describe the range of emotions one feels when we have such a tough race. This year continues to be challenging for everyone, but we are all doing our best.

« We don’t always manage to do things correctly, and that was the case today with our strategy. We make every decision with the best intentions, and sometimes it doesn’t work out. It can be frustrating, but we are all in the same boat. » A missed but justified strategy by Toto Wolff. « We made a decision based on the history of races held in Singapore, where it was essentially a procession, like Monaco, and we thought that soft tires would give him a chance at the start. It was [a good decision], but with the rear tire degradation that we encountered, it penalized us. »

Russell asks Mercedes to be faster

For Russell, despite a more convincing result than his teammate since he managed to maintain his fourth place on the grid despite the pressure from Charles Leclerc towards the end of the race, the car is not fast enough compared to other top teams, especially since the return from the summer break. We have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks to understand why we are struggling to fight at the front in the recent races. We have not been competitive since the summer break, and it’s frustrating.

With three weeks off before the next round in Austin, the Brackley team will have long weeks to analyze all the data collected and find solutions to address their heat issues and hope to improve performance, as Russell mentioned. « We will work hard to get out of this situation, and we hope that the updates we will bring at the next race in Austin will help us regain the top positions. »