George Russell: "We were dead slow"
Seventh at the finish, the Briton experienced his most difficult race of the season. In the Italian heat, the two Mercedes drivers suffered severe tire degradation, taking just seven points for the team.
A Sunday that turned into a nightmare for Mercedes. The German team experienced its worst weekend of the year with only seven points collected thanks to Russell's seventh place. A result insufficient to eliminate the frustration of the British driver who stated they were "dead slow" this Sunday. An observation explained by the intense heat in Imola which greatly affected the German cars.
However, the weekend in Emilia-Romagna had started well. While Kimi Antonelli only managed to secure the 13th fastest time for his home Grand Prix, Russell succeeded in obtaining a third place thanks to a lap time set on medium tires. Although they seemed to perform well in qualifying, the race was a completely different story. After a good start, where the former Williams driver appeared to be battling for first place with Piastri before seeing Verstappen overtake both drivers on the outside, the Mercedes simply lacked pace.
A pace that collapsed in the face of increasingly hot tires.
The Briton nevertheless tried to resist a few laps in front of his compatriot Lando Norris, but in vain. After that, he pitted to fit hard tires, but solutions were not found for his car. Ultimately finishing seventh in the race, the Briton was understandably frustrated after a disappointing result (he had always finished in the top 5 in races until then). A performance that can be explained by a lack of pace, not a bad strategy. "No, it's definitely not a case of bad luck, we were just dead slow. It's not the first race of the season where we are slower than Ferrari, or even slower than Williams, or at the same pace as them, but we've still managed to get a result in some cases. But today, we were very lucky to finish P7, honestly," he stated to Sky Sports F1.
The Brit attributed this poor performance to the high temperatures on the circuit this Sunday. High temperatures that were already causing problems for Mercedes last year and don't seem to have been solved this season. The trends are quite clear: when it's hot, we're slow; when it's cold, we're fast – and this was already the case last year. We've tried everything in terms of settings to find solutions, but there's clearly a more fundamental problem with the car. Russell also indicated that he warned his team of a problem on the formation lap. Despite this, the team was unable to identify the source of the issue.
A recurring problem to solve quickly
« It was very strange. From the laps towards the grid, I was signaling issues with the car and thought there was a problem. The team checked well and saw nothing, but this feeling persisted for about sixty laps. We have a fundamental problem because either the front tires overheat, or it's the rears, depending on the circuits. But this is not the first time we've reported it. It's probably just the first time all our competitors had a somewhat decent race. »
Mercedes must quickly find solutions as the summer season approaches rapidly and the intense heat is expected to be a regular feature on the circuits, starting with the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend. A Grand Prix where Mercedes has not been on the podium since 2019.
