George Russell was at a loss to explain his crash at the end of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver made heavy contact with the barrier at turn 19 when he lost control at the end of his final flying lap. He admitted he may have asked too much of his car after losing time earlier in the lap.“It was a really great lap until turn 12,” Russell told Sky. “I was four and a half tenths up, then lost it a bit at turn 12, similar to Lewis [Hamilton] yesterday, then lost loads of lap time.
“I was still probably a tenth or so quicker than my previous lap and then I went into the penultimate corner, turned in and then the thing just went on me and caught me by surprise. Maybe I was over-pushing, but just pretty disappointed with the damage caused to the car and all the work that’s going to have to go on tonight.”
However Russell was just as concerned by the team’s loss in performance since the previous day. Russell came within a hundredth of a second of taking pole position for the sprint race but could not replicate that form today.
“I’m a little bit confused why yesterday Lewis and I were both in the fight for pole and today we were nowhere,” he admitted.
“The car didn’t feel as put together but the pace was coming easily yesterday. Today it just was not: This morning, also this afternoon.”
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Mercedes introduced several upgrades for their W15 this weekend, but Russell said the variability in their car’s performance remains a factor.
“It just seems like such a theme at the moment that when we find the sweet spot, we’ve got a car that’s capable of pole positions and race wins, when we can’t find that sweet spot we’re nowhere.
“So I mean, apologies for the team, there’s been so much hard work bringing these upgrades and it’s really disappointing my side for the outcome.”
Russell qualified sixth despite his crash and is hopeful the repairs to his car won’t force him to start from the pits. “It shouldn’t,” he said. “But there’s a lot of damage, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. But it’s obviously not the day we needed.”
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2024 United States Grand Prix
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Yılmaz DALKIRAN
20th October 2024, 1:24
Write an article about Pierre Gasly’s qualifying performance, Mr. Collantine. I love reading your articles.
Nick T.
20th October 2024, 5:50
He’s always puzzled by his many crashes.
Red Pill (@redpill)
20th October 2024, 7:06
It would certainly not be a good look if both Mercedes cars started at the very back in their biggest sales market.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
20th October 2024, 11:11
A while yet before they get to China.
Nick T.
20th October 2024, 19:20
lol
The US is still the biggest market, but this was a hilarious comment nonetheless.
Ben
20th October 2024, 12:02
No chance of Russell starting at the back.
Nick T.
20th October 2024, 19:59
No chance you said?
lynn-m
20th October 2024, 14:11
Probably just another case of the horrid pirelli tires not offering drivers any feel and snapping without any indication it was going to.
i remember a few years ago jenson button spoke about the difference between the pirelli’s & the bridgestone/michelin’s he raced in f1 previously and his main complaint with the pirelli’s was how little feel they give the drivers and how when they lost grip it was harder to feel and therefore harder to catch when it happened so you would often find yourself spinning having had no warning it was going to happen.
he said that with the michelin’s because you had so much more feel you could introduce a bit of slip and know where the limit was, that the bridgestones were similar but not as good and the with the pirellis there was no real feel for where the edge of grip was so you could have a bit of slip and suddenly without warning be facing the wrong way.
AlanD
20th October 2024, 14:39
Lynn, I think originally the FIA wanted the tyre performance to “fall off a cliff” rather than a gradual decline, so back then some people were saying this was Pirelli doing what the FIA wanted. However, I’ve not heard that defense of the tyres for some time now, and today when Russell lost it, those were not tyres which had run a lot of laps and were nearing the limit, so they shouldn’t have lost performance so dramatically. I think in this case it is more of a car problem. Both Mercs have been all over the place this weekend, sometimes lightning fast, and then next lap sliding like they have lost all grip, much more, it seems, than the other teams, so I’m tending to think it is the upgrades that are the culprit rather than the tyres.
David BR (@david-br)
20th October 2024, 15:07
Hamilton’s offer to Russell to use his upgrade parts after GR binned the car was really generous.
Unless of course Hamilton thinks the car’s better without them.