George Russell made it clear to his Mercedes team he did not want to make a second pit stop in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
He was running sixth ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton when Mercedes made the call to bring Russell in, over his objections.Dropping Russell behind Hamilton cost him a position, but gave him the benefit of running on fresher tyres and allowed him to score the bonus point for fastest lap. That was a net gain for Mercedes, but for Russell it meant that instead of gaining two points compared to Hamilton he lost one.
However Mercedes didn’t justify the decision as a means of gaining that bonus point. They said they were growing concerned over the state of Russell’s tyres. He first pitted on lap 21, the earliest of the leaders to come in. In the second stint his rubber was five laps older than Hamilton’s, who began to make inroads into Russell’s advantage:
As Mercedes saw Russell’s pit stop margin over eighth-placed Sergio Perez shrink to the point where they could not get him out of the pits ahead of the Red Bull driver, they began to consider an extra pit stop for Russell. The driver was happy at first to stick with their plan not to pit again, but was starting to grow concerned about the state of his tyres:
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| Lap: 46/63 HAM: 1’20.944, RUS: 1’21.227 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So, George we’ve got 18 laps remaining. Just give me a tyre update. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Feels very inconsistent, sliding front then the rears. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Yeah, copy that, but you’re happy for the stint length, question? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | I think so, it’s definitely dropping though. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Leave comms to the straight. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 47/63 HAM: 1’21.069, RUS: 1’21.423 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Starting to lose the rears. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Okay. Copy Lewis. It doesn’t look like wear, so that’s temperature. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 48/63 HAM: 1’20.921, RUS: 1’21.391 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Yeah starting to feel pretty poor now this tyre. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Copy that. So, 16 laps remaining. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Yeah, rears feel bad. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So currently Lewis only car in our window. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 49/63 HAM: 1’21.182, RUS: 1’21.158 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Bit of a band appearing on the right-rear. | Russell | How far is the car ahead? That Williams? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Copy | Dudley | So it’s Sargeant, 22.3. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Pace? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | George 21.4. And George has similar comments on tyres. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Rear has gone quite light for some reason. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Okay. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 50/63 HAM: 1’20.698, RUS: 1’21.491 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Especially turning left. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Okay. We’ll have a look. George a 21.2. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | And we’re happy with data. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Russell made a push to match Hamilton’s lap times on the 49th tour, but lost almost eight-tenths of a second the next time around. This appears to have prompted Mercedes to take action, but Russell was reluctant to make an extra pit stop unless Hamilton was told to cede position.
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| Lap: 51/63 HAM: 1’20.776, RUS: 1’21.145 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So got Alonso and Sargeant ahead as traffic, they are racing. George was 21.5. | Dudley | So George, would you be happy with stopping if we lost a position to Lewis? We’ve got a window to Perez currently that is still open. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Yeah I don’t mind. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | I’ll do it. If we’ll be… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | But I presume we’ll do a switch at the end or we… or we just? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Negative. So just give me a flap update. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Leave it. But why would we bother if we’re not going to get that? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | They’re just concerned on getting these tyres to the end. Up to you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | I don’t want to concede a position for no reason. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Stay out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Although Mercedes told Russell the decision to pit was “up to you”, and he told them he didn’t want to come in if he did not get his place back, the call came down to bring car 63 in for a second stop.
The first Hamilton knew of Russell’s pit stop came after it was done.
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| Lap: 52/63 HAM: 1’21.176, RUS: 1’26.242 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Closer to traffic mate. | Dudley | So box, box we are coming in there’s a window to Perez. So box, box, pit confirm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Copy. They’re 2.3 ahead. George was 21.1 last lap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Yeah tyres are definitely dropping, mate. Got a band on left-rear. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 53/63 HAM: 1’21.415, RUS: 1’42.845 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Copy. So, George in the pit lane. He was struggling with rears. Got 11 laps remaining. | Russell | Let me know what the fastest lap is versus my delta. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | How many laps left? | Dudley | Perez at eight, seven, six, five, four, three… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So fastest lap currently is -1.1 on your dash. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | I don’t do strat two? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Green one. Position 14. And then strat two. And just think about diff high speed. And strat 13 over the line. Just be ready if you need overtake. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Russell set about taking the fastest lap, which he did, though he was briefly concerned by potential damage to his car afterwards.
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| Lap: 55/63 HAM: 1’21.027, RUS: 1’19.778 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Something at the front of the floor broke braking for 15, 14. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 56/63 HAM: 1’21.297, RUS: 1’19.571 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Copy that. Eight laps remaining. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 57/63 HAM: 1’21.664, RUS: 1’19.457 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So data currently looks okay aero-wise. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By pitting Russell, Mercedes likely spared themselves seeing their two drivers fighting for position on worn rubber at the end of the race – always a scenario a team would prefer to avoid. After the race Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the team had been concerned by the threat from Perez behind both their drivers.
Perez was a long way off catching either of them. But Mercedes may not have been alone in over-estimating his pace. Even after the Red Bull driver lost five seconds going off at Rivazza his team told him he had a chance of beating Hamilton, yet he finished nearly 20 seconds behind him.
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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
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- How Alonso and Stroll copied Verstappen’s tactic plus more unheard Imola radio
- Verstappen beats Hamilton’s winning rate with Emilia-Romagna GP victory
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- “Lando’s found some pace”: Unheard radio from Verstappen-Norris Imola duel
gDog (@gdog)
21st May 2024, 13:23
Looking at the chart, at the point they called Russel in, Perez had been catching him at ~2s/lap. With 12 laps left and the gap down to around 21 seconds, if that trend continued it would’ve been close by the end…
AlanD
21st May 2024, 13:49
Gdog, at that point, Hamilton was also between them and presumably catching Russel too. If the two Mercs had begun scrapping for position, that would likely have slowed them both down, allowing Perez to close up even quicker.
gDog (@gdog)
21st May 2024, 15:42
I agree. I think it was the right decision even if at the time it looked a bit odd.
Lewis could have acted as a rear guard and helped defend against Perez, but that’s a risky strategy to pull off.
I’m not sure they would have scrapped between themselves that much, from recent comments neither of them seem to care too much when battling for 6th+.
But by pitting George they avoided any potential internal trouble and safe guarded against Checo acheiving the main goal of risk reduction with the bonus point for a bonus. Two birds with one stone and bonus wing thrown in.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st May 2024, 14:11
This is just a feeling but with Lewis is being far from spectacular this year and I don’t see Mercedes really backing Russell as “the next big thing” he used to be. I think they made a really bad mistake keeping Bottas at Merc for one last year instead of giving the green light to Russell for 2021 already. It’s like the hype’s gone and with a difficult car, Russell never managed to build up on a very promising start at Williams.
Now Antonelli is knocking on the door, with all the hype at Merc (right or wrong). If he does switch on and turns out to be “a Verstappen”, Russell will end up being that interim leader like Ricciardo was between Vettel and Max…
Edvaldo
21st May 2024, 14:48
that’s bad for Russell that could’ve done a better job than Bottas at helping Hamilton that year and maybe winning a couple races at that, but his situation since would be the same.
If the next guy proves to be a faster learner than he is, then he’s going to be pushed to the side.
SteveP
21st May 2024, 19:27
In a cost cap situation, I don’t think Mercedes, or any other team, could afford “another MV” – way too many fender-benders.
Dex
21st May 2024, 22:10
You’d think that any driver would be aware of different rules and risks, doh… You should always consider the full context, or at least try to.
Señor Sjon
22nd May 2024, 15:29
Actually, Verstappen didn’t crash that much. Most of his DNF’s were some part of Renault failing.
zztop
26th May 2024, 22:30
Lewis is on holidays this year. Next year too but with a big check from Ferrari.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
21st May 2024, 15:30
Hamilton was quickly closing in on Russell (9 seconds behind, then down to 3) and would have passed him. Pitting Russell for fresh rubber had the benefit of the FL point as well.
Alberto
21st May 2024, 23:25
The decision didn’t look justified because Perez’s subpar stint masked it. If Perez got after it and caught Hamilton/Russell the article would have been about the brilliant call that Mercedes made to steal points off Redbull.