Tag: george russell

Norris, Russell escape penalties for aborted start in Sao Paulo

Lando Norris and George Russell were both reprimanded and fined but avoided penalties for incorrectly carrying out the aborted start procedure in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Lance Stroll crashed on the formation lap and got stuck in the gravel when …

Lando Norris and George Russell were both reprimanded and fined but avoided penalties for incorrectly carrying out the aborted start procedure in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Lance Stroll crashed on the formation lap and got stuck in the gravel when trying to recover, meaning the race could not be started as planned when the grid formed. The message from race control was ‘Aborted Start,’ meaning there would be a 10-minute grid procedure again and cars were to stay where they were.

Norris and Russell both pulled away from the front row to do another formation lap, leading to Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson behind doing the same, while the rest of the field remained in place.

“The FIA Formula 1Race Director initiated the Aborted Start procedure indicating that the drivers should not leave the grid,” the stewards’ decision read. “This message was necessary as there was a car off track in Turn 4 (STR) that needed to be recovered. Although the signal was appropriately given, the light panel illuminated as prescribed, and the teams notified by the messaging system, the driver left the grid and proceeded on a lap that he assumed to be an extra formation lap.

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“As the driver was on the front row of the grid this triggered following drivers to take similar action. At some point the Race Director realizing that for practical reasons all cars would now need to do an extra formation lap gave an instruction to the teams for all cars to proceed and return to the grid to follow the correct aborted start procedure.”

Norris and Russell were both deemed at fault as the front row cars — with no further action for Tsunoda and Lawson — and each driver received a reprimand and a €5000 ($5440) fine.

Mercedes was also hit with two €5000 fines for changing tire pressures with the wheels fitted to its cars on the re-formed grid, with a technical directive stating the tires should be removed for such a procedure. The stewards accepted that a delay opening the gate onto the grid and the unique layout at Interlagos were mitigating factors.

Carlos Sainz was another driver reprimanded for dangerous driving, after he drove away when marshals were tending to his car following his mid-race crash. Sainz had removed his steering wheel but then was told by Ferrari that he might be able to return to the garage, by which time marshals were already feeding the recovery loop through the roll hoop of the car. Recognizing Sainz was refitting his steering wheel, the marshals removed the loop just before the car moved.

Mercedes ‘on the back foot’ with cost cap after crashes

Mercedes is going to have to limit the parts it manufactures due to cost cap pressures caused by recent heavy crashes, according to team principal Toto Wolff. George Russell crashed heavily in qualifying in Austin and did so again in practice in …

Mercedes is going to have to limit the parts it manufactures due to cost cap pressures caused by recent heavy crashes, according to team principal Toto Wolff.

George Russell crashed heavily in qualifying in Austin and did so again in practice in Mexico City, despite running different specifications of car both times. That followed a big crash for Kimi Antonelli on his FP1 debut at Monza three races before the triple header, and Wolff says the cumulative cost will have an impact on Mercedes’ plans for the rest of the season.

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“Kimi’s crash at Monza, George’s crash in Austin, George’s crash [in Mexico], which… I love a driver to push, and I’d rather him crash and we know what the car is capable of doing than not,” Wolff said. “In cost cap land, that’s a tricky situation, so these three shunts put us on the back foot.

“Certainly the one that happened [in FP1 in Mexico] was massive. We had to opt for a completely new chassis. That is a tremendous hit on the cost cap. And we probably have to dial down on what we put on the car.

“So we will be having two upgrade packages in Brazil, two floors, but that’s basically it. There’s nothing else that’s going to come. We have certain limitation on parts where we need to be creative, how we’re managing this, and certainly there is an impact. There is an impact on how many development parts we can put on the car, because the answer is zero.”

Despite the limitations on parts and concerns over the budget cap, Wolff says he never felt it would be right to stop Russell and Lewis Hamilton from racing each other in Mexico, allowing them to fight over fourth place.

“They’re so good and so experienced that we allow the racing. At the beginning, I have no doubt, there was not a feeling where I thought, it’s getting a bit hairy. I think we made the call to George at the end where it was clear that Lewis had the faster car, that maybe that one defense on the straight was a bit of a late move. I don’t have any doubts about the two.”

Russell at a loss to explain heavy Mexico City FP2 crash

George Russell says he doesn’t understand the reason for his heavy crash in FP2 at the Mexico City Grand Prix that left Mercedes with a major rebuild overnight. For the second successive weekend, Russell crashed heavily and had to be cleared from …

George Russell says he doesn’t understand the reason for his heavy crash in FP2 at the Mexico City Grand Prix that left Mercedes with a major rebuild overnight.

For the second successive weekend, Russell crashed heavily and had to be cleared from the medical center at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez due to the size of the impact. He was quickest in the first practice session but then lost control over the curb at Turn 8 early in FP2 and spun into the wall at high speed.

“Honestly, don’t know what happened,” Russell said. “The car started bouncing on the ground and before I had a chance to catch it, I was already spinning.

“A lot of work for the guys tonight again. It seems like it’s one thing after another at the moment. It’s frustrating. [In] FP1 we were very strong, very fast. Tried to take the same line, cutting that corner, and for whatever reason on this occasion in FP2 the thing just started going on me.”

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Despite the crash, Russell believes it wasn’t as costly as usual due to the elongated tire test format of FP2, and he hopes to be able to recover during the final practice session on Saturday.

“I mean FP2… because it was the Pirelli tire test, it wasn’t hugely valuable in terms of what you learn for the race weekend,” he said. “Obviously missed out on laps. FP3 is going to be important; just hope we can get the car fixed.”

Teammate Lewis Hamilton also didn’t have a normal start to the weekend as Kimi Antonelli drove in his place in FP1 and then the tire test took over FP2, but he sees some encouraging signs from the running he completed.

“It’s a tire test so we couldn’t change anything on the car – it was the same from the beginning to the end,” Hamilton said. “I know what we need to fix. Whether or not we can actually do that, we’ll see. But it didn’t feel terrible; little bit off the front guys. Got some work to do tonight.”

Russell tops first Mexico City GP practice after Albon crash

George Russell topped first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix after a big crash for Alex Albon halted proceedings just before the halfway mark. Albon lost control of his Williams exiting the left-handed Turn 9 and clattered into the slow-moving …

George Russell topped first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix after a big crash for Alex Albon halted proceedings just before the halfway mark.

Albon lost control of his Williams exiting the left-handed Turn 9 and clattered into the slow-moving Ferrari of Oliver Bearman — substituting for Charles Leclerc in the session — on the approach to Turn 10. The collision sent Albon spinning out of control and into the barriers on the outside of the track, while Bearman came to a stop with damage to his front-left wheel.

“Idiot,” Albon radioed before getting out of his stricken chassis and returning to the paddock in the medical car.

Bearman also walked away from the crash unscathed.

With the session resumed and the field switching to soft tires, Russell fired in three purple sectors to set the session’s fastest time at 1m17.998s. Carlos Sainz was his closest challenger in the last remaining Ferrari, pinching the fastest time in the final sector but ending 0.317s off the pace.

Yuki Tsunoda completed the top three for RB at 0.701s adrift but one place ahead of Max Verstappen, who ended his session six minutes early with a power unit problem, reporting “no power” from his Honda motor as he limped back to pit lane.

Nico Hulkenberg was fifth for Haas ahead of Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon.

Valtteri Bottas was a lofty eighth in his Sauber ahead of RB’s Liam Lawson and home favorite Sergio Perez, who completed the top 10 at 1.096s off the pace.

Franco Colapinto was 11th in his Williams car bearing a new yellow-topped color scheme ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the highest placed of the five stand-in drivers in action in FP1.

The Italian, substituting for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, was 12th quickest and 1.2s slower than pace-setter Russell in his first grand prix session since the Italian Grand Prix, where he crashed out of practice just minutes into his F1 debut.

Fellow practice stand-in Pato O’Ward took the wheel of Lando Norris’s McLaren to set the 13th-best time in front of his home crowd.

Antonelli and O’Ward were two of five practice drivers in action in FP1, all of whom lost seat time to dual red flags in the first half of the session, the first having been to clear debris from the circuit in the opening minutes.

The others were Felipe Drugovich, who kicked off Fernando Alonso’s 400th grand prix weekend in the Spaniard’s Aston Martin, and Ferrari junior Robert Shwartzman, who completed the session in Zhou Guanyu’s Ferrari-powered Sauber, which ended the session 18th and 19th respectively ahead of only the damaged Bearman.

Between the two pairs of stand-ins were Kevin Magnussen in 14th ahead of Pierre Gasly — who reported an unidentified burning smell from his car early in the hour — Lance Stroll and the crashed-out Albon.

Russell to start U.S. GP from pit lane after crash

George Russell will start the United States Grand Prix from the pit lane due to Mercedes having to change his specification of car after a qualifying crash. Russell lost control at the penultimate corner and spun into the barrier at high speed …

George Russell will start the United States Grand Prix from the pit lane due to Mercedes having to change his specification of car after a qualifying crash.

Russell lost control at the penultimate corner and spun into the barrier at high speed during the final runs of Q3, damaging the right hand side of his car. Mercedes had brought an upgrade to Austin but with teams often limited on how many spares they have when it comes to new parts, the team was unable to replace everything in an identical specification. Russell has had to revert to the specification that Mercedes ran in Singapore as a result.

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Changing the specification of the car after qualifying has started is a breach of parc fermé regulations, and Mercedes also had to work during the time that cars are supposed to be covered due to the amount of damage that had been caused. Those infringements mean Russell will have to start from the pit lane.

Russell had originally qualified in sixth place, meaning all of the drivers behind the top five of Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri are promoted a position. Pierre Gasly will now start from sixth for Alpine.

Norris pinches U.S. GP pole after Russell crash ends qualifying

Lando Norris took pole position from Max Verstappen after a high-speed crash for George Russell truncated qualifying before the final laps could be completed. Russell’s crash compounded a woeful afternoon for Mercedes, coming after three-time …

Lando Norris took pole position from Max Verstappen after a high-speed crash for George Russell truncated qualifying before the final laps could be completed. Russell’s crash compounded a woeful afternoon for Mercedes, coming after three-time Circuit of The Americas polesitter Lewis Hamilton was eliminated from Q1 in 19th.

Verstappen had topped all three qualifying segments on his way to what looked likely to be a largely straightforward pole before a peach of a lap from title challenger Norris put the McLaren car on provisional pole by 0.031s. It was the most convincing lap the Briton has strung together all weekend, having lamented his modestly upgraded McLaren hasn’t had the pace to match Verstappen or the Ferrari drivers this weekend.

Verstappen was first of the pair to return to the track for the final runs of the hour and blitzed the first split, setting a purple time to put himself 0.172s ahead. Norris, meanwhile, couldn’t improve on his own time at the first interval.

The duel was interrupted by Russell, who lost control of his car high speed at Turn 19 and spun into the barriers. With both Verstappen and Norris behind him on the track, both drivers were forced to abandon their laps, allowing Norris to claim an unexpected pole. It’s the Briton’s fifth pole from the last seven grands prix and keeps his slim title hopes alive, now trailing Verstappen by 54 points after the morning’s Sprint.

“It was a beautiful lap,” he said. “We’ve been on the back foot pretty much all weekend. I had to do something, and today I did that.

“I was not going to go much quicker than what I did — when you just do a lap and think, ‘It’s going to be tough to beat that.’ I put everything out on the line. It’s what we needed to do.”

Verstappen rued a mistake at Turn 19 on his first lap that left him needing his second lap to take pole but was nonetheless pleased by his updated car’s performance.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish the lap, otherwise we had a really good shot,” he said. “We’re on the front row at least, and we had the potential to be first, so that’s very good.

“It seemed that we were competitive, so we made some minor changes on the car, which felt nice. … I hope that will also be positive for tomorrow.”

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Carlos Sainz also had a shot at pole spoiled, having been on a much better second lap after an unconvincing first run, fractionally up on Norris’s time in the first sector and less than 0.1s down in the second before Russell’s crash. The Spaniard qualified fifth for the sprint but finished the short race a punchy second and believes third on the grid would give him the chance to improve that result in the grand prix.

“That was the target, to do a step in qualifying compared to yesterday,” he said. “Yesterday we were P5, today we are P3, so we’ve done a good step in the right direction.

“I think we’ve done some good progress. We should be in the fight tomorrow.”

His teammate, Charles Leclerc, qualified fourth ahead of Oscar Piastri and the crashed-out Russell.

Pierre Gasly had an impressive session to qualify seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen. Sergio Perez will start 10th after having his first lap deleted for exceeding track limits, though the time would have been good enough for only eighth, having been 0.9s slower than his teammate’s front-row effort.

Yuki Tsunoda will start 11th, missing out on Q1 by just 0.045s.

Nico Hulkenberg, having qualified sixth for the sprint, managed just 12th for the grand prix after locking up into the first corner and spoiling his lap. Esteban Ocon will line up 13th ahead of Lance Stroll in 14th, both drivers shaded by more than 0.3s by their Q3-bound teammates.

Liam Lawson qualified 15th on his first full-time grand prix weekend without a time in Q2, having carried a back-of-grid engine penalty into the session. The Kiwi was impressively quicker than teammate Tsunoda in Q1 and was deployed to give the sister car a slipstream in Q2 before returning to his garage.

Williams teammates Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, eliminated in Q1, will therefore line up 15th and 16th ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas in 17th.

Hamilton will start 18th in by far his worst qualifying result at COTA. The Mercedes driver, having never qualified lower than fifth at the Austin circuit, was only 0.121s short of a spot in Q2 but a massive 0.618s slower than teammate Russell and 1.108s off top spot in the opening qualifying stanza. The damage was almost all done in the middle sector, where he lost half a second to the front-runners running wide at Turn 12.

Zhou Guanyu will start 19th for Sauber ahead of the penalized Lawson.

Russell surprised by ‘strange’ recent Mercedes and Red Bull form

George Russell says the performance of Mercedes and Red Bull in recent races is “all a bit strange” after Ferrari and McLaren dominated the Italian Grand Prix. Lando Norris took a comfortable victory at Zandvoort before Charles Leclerc used strategy …

George Russell says the performance of Mercedes and Red Bull in recent races is “all a bit strange” after Ferrari and McLaren dominated the Italian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris took a comfortable victory at Zandvoort before Charles Leclerc used strategy to beat the two McLarens at Monza, ahead of Carlos Sainz in fourth. Lewis Hamilton, in fifth, was over 22 seconds behind Leclerc, and with the Red Bulls over half a minute off the pace, Russell says it’s a surprise to see such a consistent swing in performance.

“I think it is very tight at the moment, especially in qualifying, but McLaren and Ferrari definitely seem to have the edge on us at the moment,” Russell said.

“It’s all a bit strange, like when you look at Red Bull’s performance, nobody would have predicted that five races ago. So either those guys have made big gains or I don’t know what’s going on, but we need to keep working hard and make some changes.”

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Russell himself ended up seventh behind Max Verstappen in Monza, but was closing on the championship leader in the final laps after losing over ten seconds changing a front wing he had damaged on the opening lap. Russell said it was his mistake that led to him clipping Oscar Piastri, and that it heavily impacted the rest of his race.

“I made a good start alongside Oscar. He had the slipstream from Lando and when he pulled out in front of me and hit the brakes I misjudged it, hit the brakes my side and I was locking up the rear tires and was about to crash into him, so had to take avoiding action and that’s where it all went wrong.

“[I’m] really quite disappointed, because so much hard work goes into all these weekends for it to go away so quick. But, ultimately, I don’t think we would have had the pace to fight with Ferrari and McLaren.”

Teammate Hamilton described his Italian Grand Prix outing as unexciting, having found he couldn’t match the pace of the top four.

“It was a really dull, dull day,” Hamilton said. “I was hoping to have more pace and be able to progress, but I couldn’t even… I mean, I was I think as quick for a while with Carlos but then I had more degradation, maybe as I was right behind, not sure. Just for some reason we didn’t have the pace.”

Decision to promote Antonelli took ‘five minutes’ – Wolff

Toto Wolff says he made his choice to promote Andrea Kimi Antonelli five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told him he was leaving for Ferrari. Hamilton shocked many in Formula 1 with his decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari, announcing the switch at …

Toto Wolff says he made his choice to promote Andrea Kimi Antonelli five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told him he was leaving for Ferrari.

Hamilton shocked many in Formula 1 with his decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari, announcing the switch at the start of February despite having signed a new contract only five months earlier. When given that news, Wolff says he knew he wanted to put Antonelli into the seat, although delayed a final decision while exploring the potential of attracting Max Verstappen from Red Bull.

“I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me he was going to Ferrari,” Wolff said. “Obviously we were discussing with other options, and obviously the Max idea couldn’t be discounted completely looking at what happened at Red Bull, but instinctively that is the lineup that I always wanted. Bearing in mind the fast tracking that we did with Kimi and everything that we did there too, but it was immediately what I wanted to do.”

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With Antonelli joining George Russell, Mercedes has only confirmed its line-up for 2025 at this stage, and Wolff admits there are multiple options in place that don’t guarantee the same pairing beyond that point.

“These two are the future — they have been and will be Mercedes drivers. Therefore we have contracts with George and Kimi that go much longer that are very complicated in terms of options, etc. This is a pressure cooker, Mercedes always has been a pressure cooker, but this is where we stand as a team today, we want to go with these two.

“Like we have done in the past, we have always had very short contracts. Even with Lewis the last time it came around it was one plus one. This is in a way how the team operated. But I think what’s most important is to see how George and Kimi settle in, and I see no reason at that stage not giving them the faith and the trust of going forward. 

“What that means for the terms is something that we will discuss between ourselves, but we wouldn’t have gone for the lineup with these two if we wouldn’t believe 100 percent that they are the best choice for Mercedes.”

Wolff has openly spoken of his interest in signing Verstappen in the past, and would not rule out a future move for the Dutchman even after committing to a line-up with an average age of 22 years old.

“What I appreciate also in dealing with them is they’re straightforward and transparent. I don’t flirt outside, I’ve always said it. I got maybe caught out by the Lewis situation, but I have not entertained any discussions with any drivers. We’re giving all from the team to make it a success, and this is why all of our focus in the team is on George and Kimi. And that’s where I also stand. 

“There is no discussion, there is no second thoughts about what we’re doing in 2026, because now it’s about 2024 and 2025. And if flirting outside happens, then they will know it, these guys will know it at the same time, when we have those discussions. I’ve always been open.”

Russell keen to be Hamilton-like mentor to Antonelli

George Russell wants to replicate the role Lewis Hamilton played in his development when it comes to partnering Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 2025. Antonelli will become Russell’s teammate at Mercedes next season, with the team confirming the Italian’s …

George Russell wants to replicate the role Lewis Hamilton played in his development when it comes to partnering Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 2025.

Antonelli will become Russell’s teammate at Mercedes next season, with the team confirming the Italian’s promotion following his first FP1 outing at Monza. Both of the Mercedes’ 2025 drivers came through its young driver program, and Russell says the way Hamilton helped him develop as a young driver is something he is hoping to also do for 18-year-old Antonelli.

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“I’m really excited to be partnering with Kimi for 2025,” Russell said. “His record in junior formulae has been formidable and his promotion is truly deserved. He’s a fantastic young talent and a fellow graduate of our junior program.

“I look forward to using the experience I’ve gained from my own journey to provide guidance to Kimi as he makes the step up to F1. I know how much of a support Lewis was for me throughout my time as a junior driver and since I’ve been his teammate. I’ve learned so much from him and I hope to play a similar role for Kimi.

“As a team, we’re building a lot of positive momentum heading into next year. We continue to make progress on track and are working hard to put all the pieces in place to fight for world championships. It is a really exciting journey we are on; I am confident Kimi and I can continue to push the team forward and help deliver on the promise we are showing.”

Antonelli says he is similarly keen to learn from Russell, as he admits he will have a lot of developing to do in his rookie Formula 1 season having only been racing in FRECA last year.

“It is an amazing feeling to be announced as a Mercedes works driver alongside George for 2025,” Antonelli said. “Reaching F1 is a dream I’ve had since I was a small boy; I want to thank the team for the support they’ve given me in my career so far and the faith they’ve shown in me. I am still learning a lot, but I feel ready for the opportunity. I will be focused on getting better and delivering the best possible results for the team.

“I’m also really excited to become George’s teammate. He came through the team’s junior program just like myself and is someone I have a huge amount of respect for. He is super-fast, a multiple Grand Prix winner, and has already helped me improve as a driver. I am looking forward to learning from him and working together to deliver on track.”

Russell puts Mercedes ahead in second Dutch GP practice

George Russell beat Oscar Piastri to the top of the timesheets in a dry second practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix. Russell mastered the gusty conditions – despite a trip through the gravel at Turn 9 with his Mercedes – to set the benchmark at …

George Russell beat Oscar Piastri to the top of the timesheets in a dry second practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Russell mastered the gusty conditions — despite a trip through the gravel at Turn 9 with his Mercedes — to set the benchmark at 1m10.702s, besting McLaren’s Piastri by just 0.061s on a busy afternoon at Circuit Zandvoort.

The rain from earlier in the day had completely dissipated in time for the weekend’s second hour of practice, enabling uninhibited mileage in lieu of lost running from FP1. The dry track time was crucial for teams and drivers given the forecast for the rest of the weekend, with Saturday expected to be wet but Sunday’s grand prix predicted to be sunny and dry. As a result, all three dry-weather tire compounds were on show throughout the hour, with teams deploying varied run plans to clock up laps.

Both Russell and Piastri conducted long stints on the soft tire, while their teammates, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris — third and fourth respectively in the order — spent time evaluating the medium compound.

With Mercedes and McLaren locking out the top four places, Max Verstappen dropped to fifth in the order, the Red Bull man 0.284s off the headline time and ahead of a mixed set of midfield drivers.

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Fernando Alonso headed the pack at 0.655s off the pace for Aston Martin, leading RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

Charles Leclerc was ninth in the only Ferrari that made it to the end of the session. While the Monegasque completed 31 laps, teammate Carlos Sainz got through only seven tours before a gearbox problem forced him back to pit lane and into an early retirement for the day.

Disaster struck the Spaniard before he had had the chance to use the soft tire. Having not used it during FP1 either, he may not get a chance to assess the softest rubber before qualifying, depending on the weather, or potentially Sunday’s race.

Alex Albon completed the top 10 ahead of Lance Stroll, both of whom will see the stewards after the session over an unsafe release. Sergio Perez radioed his team that he was struggling with his brakes, particularly into Turn 1, on his way to 12th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly as the last drivers to lap within 1s of the leader.

Logan Sargeant was 15th ahead of Zhou Guanyu, the Chinese driver also set for a post-session investigation for an unsafe release ahead of Ricciardo.

Esteban Ocon was 17th ahead of Valtteri Bottas and the retired Carlos Sainz.

Nico Hulkenberg ended the day after just 10 laps when his rear axle locked at the first corner, sending his Haas car spinning off the road and into the barriers.

“I don’t know what happened there,” he radioed. “Just the rear completely locked up on braking.”

The crash triggered a five-minute red flag to clean up the wreckage, after which the session got back underway without further issue.