On Saturday, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had a challenging afternoon in Melbourne while Mercedes struggled in qualifying.
George Russell, who maintains that his performance fluctuations are not comparable to those of his team-mate, has not responded to Lewis Hamilton’s worries regarding the W15. The Mercedes duo faced difficulties during their Saturday ride at the Albert Park circuit.
Throughout the three qualifying stages in Australia, Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren formed the hierarchy at the top of the field, with Hamilton and Russell hardly ever in the running for the top six spots.
The former had an especially difficult session and was eventually removed in the second qualifying round after being dropped into the elimination zone by late laps from Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda. Russell advanced to the third round, but his attempts at maximization resulted in a P7 finish.
“I’m definitely not having the fluctuations in confidence or performance on my side of the garage, or in my car, compared to what Lewis is experiencing,” Russell said after comparing the performances of the two sides of the Mercedes garage.
“We just don’t quite have the performance, but I’m still pretty happy with how the car is handling. Despite a challenging day, we eventually qualified for P7. It’s still all up for grabs because the race will see a lot of [tyre degradation].
In his post-qualifying interview with Sky Sports F1, Hamilton came across as incredibly dejected and lacking faith in the car, which was a sharp contrast to Russell’s remarks.
Hamilton reaffirmed his assertion from Friday that he felt “least confident” in the W15 thus far, saying, “It felt great in P3.” We were standing right next to these guys, and we had no idea why, so it was weird.
“But when I go into qualifying, it’s just another mental jumble in the car. It really throws you off.” George performed admirably today. That’s just the way things are. All I have to do is try to work harder tomorrow. Our car seems to be hovering near the edge.
Hamilton’s 12th and final season as a Mercedes driver is off to a disappointing start as he has yet to qualify higher than eighth in three attempts this season, despite having a P11 starting grid spot secured for the Australian Grand Prix.
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