Russell: We’re still nowhere in the hot races

Weekends follow one another and are completely different for Mercedes. Brilliant in Canada with a double podium (victory for Russell, third place and first podium for Antonelli), the German team endured a nightmare on the Spielberg track. While Antonelli’s Grand Prix lasted only one sector, Russell’s was very long, too long considering the significant gap with the two McLarens and the two Ferraris. For the Briton, the situation is clear: the car doesn’t perform well when it’s too hot.

However, the weekend had started well for the recent winner of the round in Canada with the fastest time set during the first practice session, held under ideal temperatures of 24°C in the air and 34°C on the track for the Mercedes to perform well. In contrast, the temperature hovered around 50°C on the track on Sunday, making the German cars much less performant.

A single-seater too sensitive to heat

Ultimately finishing fifth at the Grand Prix, over a minute behind the winner, the former Williams driver was never able to compete with the McLarens and Ferraris this Sunday. After the race, the Briton was fatalistic, linking the temperature changes to the decline in Mercedes’ performance. “We know the limitations of our car, and these last two race weekends couldn’t be clearer,” he revealed to the media, including RaceFans.

« When we are in Canada and there is no tire overheating, we are the fastest. But as soon as we get to tracks where there is a lot of overheating, like here, Imola or Barcelona, we’re nowhere. We need to solve this problem. »

A persistent concern that is difficult to resolve

The disappointment is all the greater for the man with four F1 victories because it has been a recurring problem for several seasons. It’s been two years now. We still don’t have many answers. We have plenty of ideas. But we really need to get a handle on this, especially with a view to next year, because the tires will always overheat.

« There are only a few races on the calendar where this is not the case. We took advantage of it in Las Vegas, Canada, or Silverstone last year. But F1 is mostly in the summer, everywhere we go. I wish it were a winter championship! » The trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin nevertheless believes that this rather disappointing weekend provided some answers for Mercedes to be able to solve these problems.

The high temperatures here once again showed where our weakness lies, and we will work very hard to resolve this for the upcoming races. After suffering so much in the hot races, we now better understand where we stand and what needs to be done to perform better. »

The answers will need to be found quickly at Mercedes, as the summer period has just begun and with it, weekends with high temperatures. And it starts this weekend at Silverstone, where Mercedes claimed victory last season.