The São Paulo Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race brought its fair share of challenges for the Mercedes F1 team. George Russell, who started in a promising fourth position and kept his position, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who began from fifth and ultimately finished seventh, shared their insights and thoughts in post-sprint race interviews. The race was marked by tyre degradation, unexpected performance fluctuations, and an intriguing debate about the sprint format.
Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
George Russell faced a day of unexpected twists and turns. When asked about the tire degradation, he admitted it was “a tough pill to swallow.”
“It was really quite confusing. Unfortunately, it’s always down to these tyres and getting it into the sweet spot,“ he said, highlighting the elusive nature of tyre performance on these last two weekends. “I think, especially these last two weekends, nobody has really understood when it’s working for them,” the 25-year-old added.
“I enjoyed the first lap,” he said, referring to his battle with Lando Norris. “It was a bit tight but, to be honest, the pace we had was kind of in line with my expectations.”
However, he acknowledged that everyone else seemed substantially quicker. The difference between them and the race leader, who finished far ahead, left Russell surprised as well.
“Even Max, we’ve never been that far behind [him],” he remarked, highlighting the remarkable 25-second gap in a 24-lap race.
Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
The Brit driver expressed optimism, hoping for a better outcome on Sunday with different weather conditions while voicing his agreement with moving the sprint race to Saturday morning and qualifying to Saturday afternoon. He noted, “Friday afternoon qualifying for the Sunday race doesn’t really make sense, for me, the main qualifying and the main race, they’re the big parts of the weekend. They need to be at the tail end.”Similarly, Lewis Hamilton did not have it any easier in the sprint race. Hamilton described the race as challenging, citing issues with car balance and understeer, particularly in the mid-sector. “I don’t know whether we got the set-up wrong,” he pondered.
When asked about the implications for the race on Sunday, Hamilton acknowledged the tyre challenge, stating, “It’s one of those circuits that is just challenging for the tyres. It is frustrating that the car is the way it is.”
Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
The 38-year-old revealed insights into their straight-line speed issues, attributing it to drag and aerodynamics. “Our floor is not as strong as outside the Red Bull, for example” he explained.
“So we have to have a really big wing and it is just slow in straight. We can’t use anything smaller.”He reflected on the team’s improving performance for the last couple of races, while acknowledging that the weekend so far has not been a good demonstration of that.
“The last couple of races, we have been excited that we’ve been progressing and it was really positive to see. Then you come to an another track and have the worst day you’ve had in ages so you just don’t know what to expect.”
“Only a couple more races with this car so I’m happy,” the seven-time world champion concluded.
