Sixth and eleventh place, respectively, for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton as they grapple with Mercedes’ balance issues.
Mercedes didn’t shine at Interlagos on Friday. After a strong practice session, the Silver Arrows took a step back in the Sprint Qualifying, with George Russell finishing sixth while Lewis Hamilton couldn’t make it past Q2, ending up in eleventh place.
The unevenness of the new asphalt significantly affected the cars’ performance, in addition to the usual issues Mercedes has been struggling with for several races. Russell, who qualified sixth, commented: “It was a challenging session, with the track cooling down during the Sprint Qualifying. Sixth place reflects our current standing: we’re at the back of the leading group, with a noticeable pace gap to the teams just behind us.
Personally, I enjoy the challenge of Sprint weekends, where you dive straight into the action, and today we also faced an unexpected difficulty: a very bumpy track, although that applies to everyone. Tomorrow, I’ll aim to move forward and use the race to understand where we can improve the car for both qualifying and the Grand Prix on Sunday.”
Lewis Hamilton, once again outqualified by his teammate, is hopeful for a good comeback but doesn’t want to get his hopes up too much. He said: “It didn’t go well, but that’s often how it is in qualifying. I want to thank the Brazilian fans for their incredible support.. I have no confidence in the car’s handling. I couldn’t push as much as I wanted in some corners; the balance is very tricky. FP1 was quite difficult, and we tried to raise the car during the pit stop..
It feels a bit like Baku a few years ago, with a lot of bouncing. It’s not nice and not easy to drive; the resurfacing work wasn’t done well. Tomorrow, I hope to move up from eleventh and figure out how we can improve our setup balance.”
Photo: X Mercedes AMG F1
