The curious case of Mercedes and the W15 has continued at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Things looked encouraging for the team as George Russell was fastest in first practice. However, that quickly turned as the Brit crashed in FP2 during the Pirelli tyre test session.
On Saturday, they always looked a step behind Ferrari and McLaren — and Max Verstappen joined them at the front in the end.
With Oscar Piastri and Sergio Pérez sensationally getting knocked out in Q1, Russell beat teammate Lewis Hamilton to P5 by 0.295s, and he missed out on P3 by 0.096s.
It was an even more impressive performance as Russell admitted that he was running a floor used all the way back in May at the Miami Grand Prix for the first time.
“FP1, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around why that was so good.
“Today was a really, really good day. To be a tenth from P3 on a floor that we raced in Miami 14 races ago now, I don’t think we could have done much more.”
Russell crashed heavily for a second straight weekend as he lost the car in turn 9 during FP2. Luckily the driver was okay, while the car was not.
Replays showed the car bouncing as he tried to take the kerb at turn 9, a common line for all drivers. The car lost all grip and ended up in the barriers.
The 26-year-old says the team is unsure why these things are occurring. Along with his incidents, Lewis Hamilton spun out of last weekend’s United States GP in weird fashion.
“Well, we know exactly what happened [when I hit that kerb].
“I mean, you look at the Red Bulls, they just run over that kerb like no problem.
“And then suddenly, you saw the replay, I hit it and it was like I was a kangaroo.
“And that was really disappointing. The last two weeks I’ve put so much pressure on the team now with [a] lack of spares, and it’s been pretty unnecessary.
“But we don’t really know why it’s happening. It’s not through over-driving, it’s just the car bites.”
The 2-time race winner confirmed he did not use it on Saturday, unlike in previous years with Williams and other Mercedes cars of the past.
“Oh, I just stayed off it.
“I used it for four years. Today I didn’t use it.”
Two big crashes in two weeks led to Russell getting asked if there could be concerns regarding the budget cap, but he confirmed that is not an issue.
The Austin-spec floor is expected to be fixed by Brazil, although the 2024 Austrian GP winner would be happy to use the older floor from earlier in the season until the end of the year if needs be.
“No concerns [on the] budget cap, because we’ve always got a bit of margin and you’re always weighing up what you put into this season versus what you’d put into next season.
“Now, potentially, we may have to compromise over the rest of this season, which, to be honest, I’d probably be in favour of because we’re not fighting for a championship.
“I’d be more than happy staying on the old floor. That gives us a better chance into next year.
“But I think we’ll be able to repair the floor from Austin. I think that’s the plan. It wasn’t as bad as we initially expected.
“And that should be out in Brazil.”
