F1
Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 6:19 pm
author: Tamas Balogh; Photo: Mercedes
The Briton feels that changing the first wheel too early hurt his Formula 1 race at Imola, which is why he lost his position to Hamilton.
George Russell led Lewis Hamilton in sixth for much of the Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. However, Mercedes called him into the pits for a second tire change at the start, so despite getting the bonus point by setting the fastest lap, the seven-time world champion won the inside battle.
Team boss Toto Wolff explained after the wave that they saw that Russell's tires would not last until the end, which is why they decided on the second serve, and did not want to risk losing their position with Sergio Perez.
Although he still asked over the radio whether Hamilton would return the position to him after replacing the plus sign, to which Mercedes responded in the negative, the driver did not overthink the matter after the gesture:
“We'll never be satisfied with sixth or seventh. In the end the team scored a bonus point. I lost my place to Lewis, but I'm not going to drop down from sixth to be honest,” he told Sky F1 cameras, adding: “We're in a no-go zone at the moment,” he said. “Behind us.” Ferrari and McLaren, but in front of the midfield.”
In the presence of Formula.hu, he also explained why his first tire change was canceled early, forcing him to pit for a second time: “I think we tried to put a little bit of pressure on Sainz. “At the end of the day, I feel like we came out a little early and that hurt the whole race on my part “.
“As a competitor, you always want to finish in the best possible position and pass your teammate. “I was comfortably ahead of him for most of the race, and then I lost the position to him for safety reasons, but we got the point,” Russell said of the extra stop that put him behind Hamilton. Additional”.
The young Briton highlighted the positive morale prevailing at Mercedes: “Everyone remains very motivated, and no one has lost their motivation, which is very inspiring to see everyone trying to make it successful and improve.”
“Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth is doing their best at the moment. It's great to see and we've just got to keep pushing. At the end of the day, we did our best this weekend, and the car was good in sixth and seventh: we qualified there and finished there as well.
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