Tag: george russell

Russell tops final Abu Dhabi practice after Verstappen problems

George Russell topped final practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on a troubled afternoon for reigning champion Max Verstappen. Russell, who also topped the daytime FP1 session, had a relatively quiet final hour of practice, completing just 11 laps …

George Russell topped final practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on a troubled afternoon for reigning champion Max Verstappen.

Russell, who also topped the daytime FP1 session, had a relatively quiet final hour of practice, completing just 11 laps with two sets of soft tires on his way to the headline time of 1m 24.418s.

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Top spot was closely contested by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who were 0.095s and 0.392s off the pace respectively, the two papaya teammates having completely a similarly spartan run plan ahead of qualifying.

Their way was eased by Verstappen’s absence from the top of the order after a frustrating final hour of free track running for the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen made four setup changes through the session but appeared satisfied by none of them. His session started with complaints about rear sliding and ended with concern about the car bottoming out and jumping, a similar problem to that he reported on Friday night. His difficulties left him down in sixth and 0.735s off the pace.

Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc slotted between the champion and the leading trio. Albon’s Williams was particularly strong in the first two sectors, where it was the fastest car of the session, but he shipping almost 0.7s to leader Russell in the slow final split, leaving him cumulatively half a second off.

Leclerc sounded surprised not to be higher than fifth and closer than 0.681s to Russell, having topped the truncated FP2 session, which was run in representative evening conditions.

Both Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz, who ended the session last in his rebuilt car following an overnight crash, spent almost the entire session with the medium tire, the only drivers in the field to do so.

Both Ferrari drivers completed 13 laps apiece on the yellow-marked tire to make up for lost race-simulation time in FP2 before two runs on a set of softs in time attack.

Esteban Ocon finished seventh behind Verstappen but ahead of Logan Sargeant, who made it two Williams cars in the top 10, Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu.

Sergio Perez was 11th and 0.841s off the pace, though he set his fastest lap earlier in the session, while Lewis Hamilton was 12th and 0.885s behind his session-topping teammate.

Pierre Gasly led Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who each set a lap on both their sets of hard tires to prepare them for Sunday, when they’re expected to be the key race compound.

Valtteri Bottas led Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen and Sainz at the bottom of the order.

Russell leads rookie-packed first Abu Dhabi GP practice

George Russell topped first practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich. Russell used a set of softs to lead the unrepresentative daytime session ahead of the night-time grand prix with a time of …

George Russell topped first practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich.

Russell used a set of softs to lead the unrepresentative daytime session ahead of the night-time grand prix with a time of 1m26.072s. It was a smooth end after a troubled start to the hour for the Briton, whose first run was curtailed by a loose helmet and his subsequent laps frustrated by steering issues through the Yas Marina Circuit’s many slow-speed turns.

Drugovich was unexpectedly his closest rival, lapping 0.288s adrift in Fernando Alonso’s car, having taken Lance Stroll’s seat for his first F1 appearance in Mexico last month.

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The Brazilian 2022 Formula 2 champion was one of 10 stand-in drivers in the field, with nine of the 10 teams needing to satisfy regulations requiring them to devote at least two practice sessions to rookie or inexperienced drivers this season.

Only AlphaTauri had already satisfied the rule ahead of the weekend, while Red Bull Racing had both full-time drivers out of the car for one of the year’s least critical practice sessions.

Daniel Ricciardo was third for AlphaTauri, 0.361s adrift. Valtteri Bottas following 0.02s further back, while Stroll made it two Aston Martin cars in the top five, although the Canadian was 0.599s off the pace. Stroll could be at risk of a post-session investigation for blocking Red Bull Racing stand-in Isack Hadjar late in the session

Oscar Piastri was also aggrieved by slow drivers on the racing line, having had to take evasive action to avoid a crash with Carlos Sainz in an incident McLaren suggested was dangerous. Piastri and Sainz finished sixth and seventh, with Ferrari reserve driver Robert Shwartzman eighth and just 0.027s behind his full-time teammate.

Pierre Gasly was ninth quickest ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who completed the top 10 at 0.653s adrift.

Logan Sargeant finished 11th but will see the stewards after the session for blocking Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan on a hot lap. Sargeant was moving slowly while adjusting some setting on his steering wheel between the last two corners when Doohan suddenly appeared in his mirrors.

Sargeant veered right, to the inside of the track, just as Doohan did likewise in an attempt to avoid a crash. The Australian had to dive deeper still, almost into pit lane, to avoid what he said would have been “the biggest accident of my life.”

Doohan was 13th, just behind Mercedes reserve Frederik Vesti and ahead of F2 title leader Theo Pourchaire, who enjoyed a largely clean session after completing just four laps with brake problems in his first practice outing this season in Mexico.

IndyCar star and 2024 McLaren reserve driver Pato O’Ward was 15th, having survived a big snap of oversteer exiting the final corner early in his run, the wild moment warning other drivers of a tailwind through the turn. He finished ahead Formula E champion Jake Dennis and Hadjar, both Red Bull juniors taking over from Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Williams Formula 3 runner-up Zak O’Sullivan was 18th ahead of Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Oliver Bearman, the latter a Ferrari junior currently sixth in the Formula 2 standings.

Russell didn’t see Verstappen, rues lost podium in Vegas

George Russell believes he lost out on a podium as a result of the contact he had with Max Verstappen in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, saying he didn’t see the Red Bull driver. Verstappen was trying to overtake Russell into Turn 12 – the key corner …

George Russell believes he lost out on a podium as a result of the contact he had with Max Verstappen in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, saying he didn’t see the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen was trying to overtake Russell into Turn 12 — the key corner leading onto the long flat-out run along the Strip — but the Mercedes driver turned in with the eventual winner alongside him. Both cars picked up slight damage and Russell was handed a 5s time penalty for causing a collision, and says he hadn’t expected Verstappen to try a move there.

“Totally didn’t see him in, in the blind spot, wasn’t expecting the overtake,” Russell said. “I wasn’t even really fighting him because we knew that Max wasn’t our race. We just had to keep the tires alive and, you know, it was a comfortable podium just thrown away once again.

“…It’s really disappointing, very frustrating. And now heading into Abu Dhabi, only a few points between us and Ferrari.

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“The only piece of damage was the wheel cover, which, if anything, probably would have helped the graining by having that extra bit of cooling. If it wasn’t for the safety car we’d have continued and would have gone on onto the podium. I don’t really know what to say, really. Just really frustrated with [the race], with this season as a whole. Yeah, I can’t really catch a break.”

Russell says his pace was comparable with Charles Leclerc at times but he was unable to show it due to the circumstances, and feels that Mercedes has had more bad luck as a result of its car not being as competitive as it wants.

“When the car’s quick, luck always seems to be on your side and when the car’s not, you never seem to have long,” he said. “Ultimately the pace isn’t quick enough. A number of these issues have come from not being fast enough. Not a lot more to say, really.

“I think Charles looked really fast out there. He was managing the tires a lot…on the medium stint, and managed to extend a lot; that was quite impressive. But on the hard tire, I felt pretty competitive. We all got stuck behind Alex for quite a long time. We know they’ve got good straight-line speed and it was difficult to overtake.”

Russell tops busy final practice in Vegas

George Russell topped a busy final practice session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix after Max Verstappen botched his final flying lap on soft tires. The session was truncated by five minutes after Alex Albon smacked his car into the outside barrier at …

George Russell topped a busy final practice session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix after Max Verstappen botched his final flying lap on soft tires.

The session was truncated by five minutes after Alex Albon smacked his car into the outside barrier at Turn 5, entering the Sphere section of the circuit, in the dying moments of the hour.

The last practice session before qualifying featured a broad mix of tires and programs, including long-run simulations and single-lap analyses.

In particular, drivers focused on preparing the soft tire for one final lap in qualifying, with rubber warm-up critical in the cool conditions.

Though the ambient temperature was a mild 64 degrees F, it will drop in time for midnight qualifying. The track had been 10 degrees cooler during second practice earlier on Friday morning.

The circuit was also ramping up dramatically in grip. The track being open to local traffic during the day meant the surface started in a dirty and greasy state, with lap times almost 5s slower than they had been during FP2.

But grip improved rapidly through the hour Russell’s fastest lap of 1m 34.093s was 1.828s quicker than Charles Leclerc’s session-topping FP2 time, and the Briton took top spot with his second run on a set of softs.

Oscar Piastri was second, the McLaren driver 0.398s further back. The Australian rookie burnt through two sets of unloved hard tires at the start of the session before a long run on mediums and a final seven-lap qualifying simulation on softs, putting him ahead of all bar Russell.

But Logan Sargeant was the surprise packet in third, finishing 0.552s off the pace and pipping Verstappen by 0.008s.

The American rookie’s Williams car was fastest of all in the final sector. It’s the most power-sensitive split of the circuit and comprises the Strip, where the DRS zone was extended by 54.7 yards into turn 14 following a post-FP2 assessment.

Sargeant was the highlight in a session of mixed fortunes for Williams, with teammate Albon retiring from FP3 early after crashing at Turn 5. The Thai driver attempted to carry too much speed into the turn and sailed wide into the barriers, making heavy contact with both left-hand wheels.

The collision cracked his rear-left rim, and the tire popped off the wheel as he attempted to limp back to pit lane, forcing him to park by the side of the road and triggering the session-ending red flag.

Albon ended the session sixth fastest, sandwiching the Red Bull Racing pair between the two Williams drivers.

Verstappen had been set to take top spot with a fresh softs late in the session, clocking in at more than 0.1s quicker in the first sector than leader Russell, but he overshot Turn 14 at the end of the Strip and had to take to the run-off zone, spoiling the lap and leaving him 0.56s off the pace. Sergio Perez followed him 0.053s further back.

Fernando Alonso was seventh ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen completing the top 10.

Yesterday’s leaders Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were buried in 16th and 17th, having spent most of the session conducting long runs on the medium compound.

Leclerc, however, was on his fastest lap, with a purple middle sector, when the red flags were waved and was surely destined to join the frontrunners had he had a chance to complete it.

Sainz had been preparing for his final lap when the session was called off, leaving him without a representative time ahead of qualifying. He will serve a 10-place grid penalty for changing power unit parts thanks to his FP1 incident with a loose water valve cover in the road.

Lando Norris, Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu finished ahead of the Ferrari teammates in places 11 to 15, while Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo completed the order.

 

Brazil a ‘mind-boggling weekend to understand’ for Mercedes

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix was a “mind-boggling weekend to understand” for Mercedes due to a lack of performance that yielded just four points on Sunday. George Russell finished fourth in the Sprint but struggled more than he expected, with Lewis …

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix was a “mind-boggling weekend to understand” for Mercedes due to a lack of performance that yielded just four points on Sunday.

George Russell finished fourth in the Sprint but struggled more than he expected, with Lewis Hamilton limited to seventh on Saturday. The main race was even more surprising, with Russell slipping back to tenth before retiring, and Hamilton limping home in eighth having run third early on.

“Mind-boggling weekend to understand,” Russell said. “Had relatively high expectations and just absolutely no pace at all. Same car as the last five races, so clearly we’ve got something wrong with the tires, and in a Sprint race weekend when you get it wrong you can’t make amends for those issues.

“I mean…it’s…so many question marks. It’s the same car we had since Austin, where the car’s been capable of podiums every race – even before then, Singapore, Qatar, capable of podiums. This is clearly a substantial, one-off event. We need to understand what we’ve got wrong because right now we don’t really know.”

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Russell says the high downforce setup approach Mercedes took didn’t provide it with any of the expected gains.

“Definitely a sitting duck,” he said. “The choice we made to run a bit more downforce — when you run more downforce you’re meant to gain the speed through the corners, keep the tires under control, and that wasn’t the case. We didn’t have the benefit; we only had the negatives.”

Teammate Hamilton was also downbeat, although says he had expected such a performance after the way the rest of the weekend had panned out.

“I knew that we would have a relatively difficult day,” Hamilton said. “Nothing changed in the car from yesterday to today, so I knew it would be a tough one. Yesterday I just ate through the tires with an unexpected lack of pace. I think I drove better today in terms of making my stints, but we were just slower.

“My guess is that the floor’s not working. The floor’s just not sucking us down, so that just pushed us to go to a higher wing. We’re just massively draggy on the straights. We’re losing so much time on the straights, there’s nothing I could do about it. We were just sliding through the corners, so we have to look into why that is the case on this rough circuit.”

Mercedes ‘clearly got something wrong’ in Brazilian GP sprint

Mercedes’ lack of performance in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix showed the team “clearly got something wrong,” according to George Russell. Interlagos was expected to suit Mercedes after Russell’s double victory across a Sprint weekend last …

Mercedes’ lack of performance in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix showed the team “clearly got something wrong,” according to George Russell.

Interlagos was expected to suit Mercedes after Russell’s double victory across a Sprint weekend last season, and despite only qualifying fourth on Saturday he quickly climbed to second on the opening lap. From there Russell went backwards and finished fourth, some 26s behind race-winner Max Verstappen and over 20s behind Lando Norris.

“Really unexpected,” Russell said. “We didn’t expect to be the fastest; we thought we’d be a couple of tenths behind Max, maybe similar pace to Lando, but clearly we got something wrong today. As always it’s down to tires — tires just dropped off. Story of everybody’s season, and we need to rectify it because that was a disappointing one.

“We know how sensitive the tires are to the conditions. If it’s going to be four or five degrees colder tomorrow, that might transform everything. Not all is lost yet. I guess everybody in the paddock wished they understood it, but it’s a bit of black magic.”

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While Russell expected it to be tough to hold off cars that were within DRS range, he says that weakness should have made tire usage a strength for Mercedes.

“We’re the slowest on the straight at the moment, so we’re very vulnerable if anybody gets DRS behind us,” he said. “We knew that was going to be the case, but that wasn’t the reason for our lack of pace. If anything, being on probably a bit more downforce than everybody else, we were expecting to have less tire deg. We really need to understand what went wrong.”

Things were even worse for teammate Lewis Hamilton who slipped to seventh and a little over half a second clear of Daniel Ricciardo in ninth.

“It was a very tough race,” Hamilton said. “I think we got a good start, then balance… We tried to get right balance of the wing. Just a lot of understeer, snap oversteer and tires just dropped off. In the middle sector, huge understeer. I don’t know whether we got setup wrong… We probably got setup wrong but it is what it is.

“It’s not frustrating [that the car can’t be changed]. It’s frustrating that the car is the way it is.

“The last couple of races we’ve been excited that we’ve been progressing. It’s been really positive to see, and we come to another track and then you have the worst deg that you’ve had for ages. So it’s like you don’t know what to expect, but only a couple more races with this car then it’s gone so I’ll be happy … This year you’re just counting down the days, trying to enjoy every day.”

Russell, Ocon, Gasly hit with impeding penalties in Brazil

George Russell, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly have all been handed two-place grid penalties for impeding other cars at the pit exit in qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The FIA had changed the regulations to mandate a maximum delta time …

George Russell, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly have all been handed two-place grid penalties for impeding other cars at the pit exit in qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The FIA had changed the regulations to mandate a maximum delta time between Safety Car Line 2 — at the pit exit — and Safety Car Line 1 — at the pit entry — from the Singapore Grand Prix onwards to reduce the risks of drivers backing up in the final sector to create gaps in qualifying. This served to move the issue of cars slowing to the pit exit — as seen in Mexico last week — so the race director’s notes in Brazil made clear that any car going slowly in the pit lane had to move fully to the left to allow others to overtake if they wish.

However, with a long and narrow pit exit at Interlagos, there were multiple incidents of potential impeding and Russell, Ocon and Gasly all received the same grid penalty for preventing others from passing.

“[When] exiting the pits, preparing for an out lap, [the drivers in question] went slow to create a gap for a clear lap, but did not manage to stay completely to the left,” the stewards’ decision read. “As a result, following car(s) were not able to overtake, as intended by the Race Director’s instructions. This clearly violates the wording and the spirit of item 14 of the Race Director’s Event Notes.”

The penalties apply to the grand prix on Sunday — rather than the Sprint on Saturday — as the incidents occurred in qualifying for the main race. Russell was the highest-placed of the trio originally, so he drops from sixth to eighth on the grid. Ocon and Gasly had qualified next to each other and are demoted to 14th and 15th respectively.

Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Alonso escape Mexico penalties

Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Fernando Alonso have all escaped penalties after qualifying at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Verstappen, Russell and Alonso were all investigated over alleged impeding in the pit lane, with the trio …

Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Fernando Alonso have all escaped penalties after qualifying at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Verstappen, Russell and Alonso were all investigated over alleged impeding in the pit lane, with the trio waiting at the exit to leave in order to find a gap ahead of their Q2 laps. While the stewards did feel that cars were unnecessarily impeded as a result, they say it’s due to the minimum delta time that drivers have to adhere to on track and therefore the pit exit is a better place to create a gap than the final sector.

“The stewards consider that the entire set of incidents occurred as a direct result of the implementation of the minimum lap time between SC2 and SC1 which is designed (correctly so, in our view) to avoid dangerous backing-up of cars on the circuit during qualification,” the stewards’ decision read.

“We note that there are contrary requirements on drivers in that they must respect the minimum time, they are attempting to create manageable gaps to cars in front, yet they are also required to avoid unnecessarily stopping at the pit exit or driving unnecessarily slowly.

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“It was also particularly noted that the Race Director accepted that these contrary requirements exist. All parties including the stewards are firmly of the view that it is better to have the potential of cars backing-up in the pit lane or at the pit exit, instead of the potentially dangerous situation of large speed differences on track.

“We consider that in the main all drivers involved in these incidents were acting in good faith and with safety as a priority. We also accept that Race Direction has taken the correct approach in apply the minimum lap time. It is desirable that better solution be found for the pit exit however at this stage, what that solution would be, is unknown.”

In Hamilton’s case, the Mercedes driver was summoned over allegedly failing to slow for yellow flags at Turn 3, after Alonso had spun in Q1. However, the stewards felt he wasn’t given a clear yellow flag signal to adhere to.

“The on board video clearly shows there is no light or flag displayed to Car 44 on the straight into Turn 1,” the decision read. “Then a green light shows as he enters Turn 2, which is followed by two pulses of a yellow light then moments later, the light panel is blank. The driver was slightly slower in the mini sector than on his previous push lap.

“Our determination is that there was no breach of the regulations.”

The only penalty was handed out to Logan Sargeant, who was hit with a 10-place grid drop for overtaking under yellow flags. Sargeant passed Yuki Tsunoda and told the stewards he could see a green panel ahead but that was not accepted as a legitimate excuse. Having seen his Q1 lap times deleted for track limits infringements, the penalty has no bearing on Sargeant’s starting position in 20th, although he now has six penalty points over the past 12- month period.

Hamilton shoulders blame for Turn 1 clash with Russell in Qatar

Lewis Hamilton took the blame for a collision with George Russell at the start of the Qatar Grand Prix and insists their relationship “isn’t broken.” The two Mercedes drivers came together on the entry to Turn 1 at the start of the race, with …

Lewis Hamilton took the blame for a collision with George Russell at the start of the Qatar Grand Prix and insists their relationship “isn’t broken.”

The two Mercedes drivers came together on the entry to Turn 1 at the start of the race, with Hamilton on soft tires attempting to go round the outside of both Russell and Max Verstappen but squeezing his teammate slightly and catching Russell’s left front wheel with his right rear.

Hamilton’s wheel detached in the contact and he retired, with Russell spinning and getting damage that limited him to fourth in the race. After each driver blamed the other at the time, Hamilton took the blame after seeing replays.

“I’ve watched the replay and it was 100 percent my fault and I take full responsibility,” he wrote on social media. “Apologies to my team and to George.”

With the pair having come close to incidents in Japan too, before viewing the replays Hamilton insisted the pair were on good terms and would not have any issues as a result of the contact.

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“The relationship isn’t broken,” Hamilton said. “I don’t have any problems with George. We have a great relationship and we always talk about things. This is definitely unfortunate and I’m sure he was frustrated in the moment, like I was. But we’ll talk about it offline and we’ll move forwards. Just apologies to all the team.

“It’s frustrating, whoever you touch with, but it’s frustrating when both of us spun out and ultimately went down the order.

“I had the soft tire and everyone around me had the medium tire. I needed to get by. I tried going around the outside of Max but just didn’t work out.

“I think in the heat in the moment I felt… it was obviously frustrating because I felt this tap from the rear end. But I don’t think George had anywhere to go. I think it was just an unfortunate scenario. I’m happy to take responsibility as that’s my role. I need to go back and look at it but I don’t feel it was George’s fault.”

Russell dismisses Hamilton fight as ‘good hard racing’

George Russell says his radio messages about fighting teammate Lewis Hamilton were just “a release valve” and that he was happy with the way the pair raced each other in the Japanese Grand Prix. Hamilton had contact with Sergio Perez at the start of …

George Russell says his radio messages about fighting teammate Lewis Hamilton were just “a release valve” and that he was happy with the way the pair raced each other in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Hamilton had contact with Sergio Perez at the start of the race and had to defend from Russell in the early stages, with a small error when he ran wide at Turn 9, the second Degner, leaving him under pressure and fighting his teammate again. After Hamilton’s defensive move forced his teammate wide across the curb at Spoon, Russell complained on the way they were battling over team radio but later downplayed the comments.

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“We use the radio as a bit of a release valve because it’s so hot in the car — it’s a long race, you’re there pushing for an hour and a half, you’re fighting every inch,” Russell said. “But for myself now, there’s two goals. The main goal is to finish P2 in the constructors’ championship.

“The drivers’ championship is totally out of the window for me. Lewis is in a good place to fight for a good position, but the goal is to just finish ahead of Ferrari this season and keep working towards next year.”

Despite then asking for DRS help from Hamilton in the latter stages — something Hamilton said he didn’t think was “a good idea at all” — and referencing being pushed off track by the other Mercedes, Russell says he has no complaints after the race.

“I viewed it as good hard racing. Thankfully we were in a position to put him under pressure and making the moves on him, I was happy with them so I’ll take the positives from that.

“It’s just hard, fair racing. Of course we lost a bit of overall time fighting one another, and again you are a bit frustrated on the radio but it’s something that’s part of racing.”

Russell doesn’t believe his own attempts at a one-stop strategy were hurt by the fight with Hamilton, saying it’s not even a topic that team needs to speak about internally.

“Both of us lost time to the cars around us, so we aren’t going to give up the position easily to one another. It was still early on in the race and I had more pace but he was the car who was ahead.

“As I said, part of racing and there’s nothing to discuss. We’ve got bigger fish to fry, which is how do we make our car faster.”