Hamilton with the new update in Mexico, Russell with the old one

Lewis Hamilton quickly dropped out last weekend at the United States Grand Prix after spinning out in the early laps. The British driver then pointed the finger at the latest improvements made by Mercedes to their cars. The balance changes caused by the recent modifications did not satisfy him. George Russell suffered a similar fate in qualifying, with his crash damaging his new parts, which have been sent back to the factory for repairs and should be ready for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Despite these incidents, Hamilton and Mercedes believe, after the fact, that the issues encountered in Austin could be more related to the irregularities of the Texan track than to the new improvement itself. “We can see in the data that we have three wheels, meaning the left wheel starts to move,” Hamilton said. “The car goes into a slide.” The seven-time world champion also highlights the effect of a tailwind and increased sensitivity of the floor, factors that would have contributed to the handling problems.

A comparison planned in Mexico

Hamilton has finally chosen to maintain this update in Mexico because the track is less bumpy, offering a better opportunity to collect data. This mixed configuration between the two cars should provide crucial information to refine Mercedes’ technical choices for the end of the season. Russell shares this view, believing that having packs distributed on the two Mercedes should allow the team to learn more quickly where it stands with its latest upgrade pack.

George Russell admits that Mercedes took bold settings in Austin, which probably complicated the car management, rather than just the presence of new parts. « We were very aggressive, very close to the ground, and Lewis and I clearly suffered on Saturday and Sunday. But when we were able to do a lap, we showed real signs of performance »,” he explained. For him, Mexico is a new opportunity to evaluate the performance of the two competing configurations.

Antonelli in FP1 instead of Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton will not participate in the first free practice session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, leaving his place to Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The young rookie driver, after a first experience in Italy cut short by an accident after only ten minutes of driving, received advice from Hamilton to approach this new session serenely. « I think the most important thing, and I told him, is that he doesn’t need to set the world on fire on the first lap. You just have to get used to it and enjoy it », Hamilton said, stressing that the track could be slippery at the beginning of the session.