In the end it was just a measly dot that could take the silver arrows from Silverstone with it: disappointment with team boss Toto Wolff, who struggled with the strategy in both cars. Disappointment with Kimi Antonelli, after the second failure in series. And disappointment, especially with local hero George Russell, who had dreamed of the podium more of the podium after fourth place in qualifying.
“I think the early pit stop was not a stupid decision”, Russell still defends Mercedes early switch to Slicks at the end of the introductory round, for which he left his good starting place vacant: “It was dry for 25 minutes,” says Russell, although he admitted: “What we did not know: that there is a 15-minute phase of the virtual safety car.
“After the end, we suddenly had a pace advantage of five seconds towards the drivers on intermediates. If we could have used this advantage over a complete racing phase, we might even have come back to the top,” the Mercedes pilot believes: “If it runs once, it is going-just today against us.”
The wrong call becomes doomed Mercedes
Russell is fundamentally satisfied that Mercedes took the risk: “In our situation: If you are on the safe side, you will also get to the finish. That would probably have been fourth. And of course, if I was here, I wish we had fourth place.” But the Brit says: “But yes, we wanted to be brave, dare.
The problem: A false call finally chased the next at Mercedes, because even a second change to Slicks later failed in the race from the timing – although team boss Toto Wolff expressed understanding: “At the time he was hanging behind Gasly because the performance of the car was simply not enough to overtake. And then it was probably an act of contradiction: in the hope of a better result,” The Viennese.
The end is known: it was just not Mercedes’ day. Did the local hero, despite the up and down at least some fun in a chaotic race, had, so to speak, as a small consolation and compensation for the mowing result? “Not really. It’s just fun when you are in a good position,” says Russell: “At the beginning, on the dry tires, I felt very strong.” But then the rain came back …