In the Bahrain Grand Prix, George Russell lost two positions due to Mercedes’ engine problems, and the driver acknowledged that they misjudged the track conditions.
During the Bahrain Grand Prix, George Russell admitted that both his and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes had engine problems.
The British driver qualified in third place but ended up in fifth place as the Silver Arrows finished behind both Ferraris and Red Bulls. Russell began the race in second place, but he eventually dropped to the back of the pack due to power issues, which he voiced concerns about over team radio.
Russell acknowledged that these problems prevented them from realizing the full potential of the Mercedes, which now seems to be more comparable to their competitors than it has been in recent years. The 26-year-old added that it ended up costing the team a lot of money because they were unable to predict the conditions.
“We both had a similar issue (with Lewis Hamilton), for some reason we were experiencing severe engine overheating and improper battery operation,” he remarked. We had to reduce the power because we were losing roughly four tenths of a lap just in power. I had a really strong start and moved into second place when all of a sudden I had these large red alerts on my steering wheel and I ran out of battery.
It’s unfortunate that we were unable to showcase this car’s true potential; it was a bit of an odd day. Really, there’s nothing to worry about; all we had to do was apply a little more bodywork. We had to go around that loop because our estimate of the conditions was off, which ultimately cost us a lot of money.
“It’s possible that each team has five or six different cooling specifications. We chose the most aggressive option, which was obviously overkill; it was just a matter of selecting the incorrect bodywork for the current conditions.”
Russell trailed race winner Max Verstappen by more than 46 seconds when the checkered flag flew. In contrast, Lewis Hamilton, who came in seventh place behind Lando Norris’ McLaren, was 50 seconds behind the swift Dutchman.
Prior to their somewhat disappointing performance, Mercedes—who have only won one race in the previous two seasons—had looked strong in practice and may be ready to make a comeback to the front of the grid. However, Hamilton acknowledges that they are farther away from the Red Bulls than they had thought.
He said: “We probably feel a bit of disappointment within the team, I’m not sure about everyone else. I was definitely hoping that we would be better this weekend then we were, but it was a tough race, it was very close with everybody and degradation is high with the car. There is plenty of areas we can improve. We were further back from the Red Bulls then we thought as well.”
Leave a Reply