George Russell’s race at the F1 Japanese GP was defined by tyre compounds and stagnant racing that left him stuck in a DRS train.
Unable to close the gap to Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari ahead, Russell’s weekend was full of missed opportunities and Mercedes’ ongoing frustrations.
In qualifying, a scrappy Q3 lap left him in P5 for the GP, sandwiched between Leclerc and his teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Both Mercedes failed to extract the final tenths needed to challenge the McLarens.
Russell finishing where he started at the F1 Japanese GP
As the race unfolded, and despite the team attempting some strategic moves, Russell ultimately started and ended in P5 at the Japanese GP.
Despite an aggressive early pit stop on lap 15 to undercut Leclerc, the hard-compound tyres were “too hard for (the) resurfacing,” he claimed.
Bringing the C1 tyre to Suzuka would normally be understandable due to the loads placed on them through the high speed corners. However, the resurfacing — like in Shanghai — took all the degradation away.
“I think these last two weekends the tyre compounds have been too hard… It’s been an easy one-stop for both races, and that’s just really taken any fun from the strategy.”
“I hope we can maybe react as a sport because we all finished where we started,” Russell noted.
“There just wasn’t enough difference in the tyre degradation.”
Trapped behind Leclerc’s Ferrari for the majority of the race, he spoke candidly, noting: “Ultimately, you could only go as fast as the driver in front.”
Mercedes’ gamble to pit early did not do anything to get track position.
However, more positively, teammate Antonelli was also very fast as he finished P6, proving the consistency the car has at the moment.
“We finished P5, so not ideal, but not terrible.
“I think realistically, P4 would’ve been the maximum from this weekend,” Russell admitted post-race.
His lap mirrored Mercedes’ current reality, a car lacking the pace to disrupt McLaren’s current dominance.
Russell’s call for real racing again following Japanese GP
With track changes and Pirelli’s tyre compounds turning races into fuel-saving competitions, Russell noted, “I think in stint one I feel I could have stayed with the McLarens, but we really don’t know.
“You saw this with McLaren, they were the same as Verstappen. If they were ahead, would they be 1 tenth quicker or 5 tenths quicker?
“For me, I was just doing the same lap times as Charles [Leclerc].”
