Lewis Hamilton and George Russell evaluate Friday training: This is how Mercedes’ chances are in the second Formula 1 race in 2023 in Saudi Arabia.
“You’re just trying to make the best of the package you have,” says Mercedes driver George Russell. In Formula 1 Friday practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, this meant fifth place behind Red Bull and Aston Martin, but also behind Alpine.
Expressed in numbers: Russell, as the faster Mercedes driver, needed exactly 0.467 seconds more in the W14 than Red Bull driver Max Verstappen for a fast lap. Lewis Hamilton in the sister car was even 0.996 seconds down on P11.
And Hamilton was rather taciturn on Friday night. When asked if he felt any changes compared to the opening weekend in Bahrain, he simply explained that it felt “pretty much the same” in the car. And further: “A second behind or something. I definitely had difficulties, in both units.”
Hamilton complained several times about his car
In fact, Hamilton had complained several times about the handling of his W14 Mercedes on the track in Jeddah. Andrew Shovlin, chief engineer on site in Saudi Arabia, confirms Hamilton’s impression by certifying that the race car is “not easy to drive”.
Mercedes itself may have exacerbated the problems. Shovlin: “In the first session we struggled with the front and maybe overcorrected for the second session.”
Experiments are mandatory for Mercedes in this phase, Hamilton emphasizes: “We just go into more detail and try to improve the balance of the car so that it is easier to drive. And I know that everyone at the factory works very hard.” It is probably only “a matter of time” before things get better. “So we just have to be patient,” said Hamilton.
Only Russell tries out the new Mercedes parts
In contrast to Hamilton, his Mercedes teammate Russell was directly involved in the further development on Formula 1 Friday in Saudi Arabia. In the second unit, he had “a few test parts” on the car. It was just “little things for short-term use,” Russell said. Nothing with which the W14 could suddenly connect to the top.
Shovlin is talking about “planned upgrades that seem to be working well”. Mercedes believes that it is on the way in the “right direction”, but the new parts are “not a huge step” overall.
But the latter is not the focus at all, at least for Russell: “For us, it’s first and foremost a question of whether we as a team are going in the right direction with our realignment. That’s why the people at work and the people here on the track take the data apart.”
“You just try to make the best of the package that you have available. Getting the set-up to the point. But we won’t find a second overnight, even though I’d like to. To put everything on the To get in line,” says Russell, “it takes a little more time.”
Hamilton didn’t know what Russell was testing
In any case, Shovlin recognizes “a lot of information that we can evaluate to work out the set-up for Saturday”. At the latest when this data is available, Hamilton can also get an idea of the updates on the Russell car. Because on Friday evening he stated that he did not know any details about the procedure on the second Mercedes W14.
O-Ton Hamilton when he was asked about the new test parts: “I don’t know exactly what it’s about. I concentrated on my own program. So if there were things that were tried on the other car, then We’ll find out in our debrief.”
The question remains what Mercedes can do with it in Saudi Arabia. Red Bull is “safe up front,” says Russell, while Shovlin says Mercedes has “pace that’s not that bad” “if we can get a lap together.” In practice, however, it will probably result in a confrontation with Aston Martin, Ferrari and Alpine in qualifying and the race. And Shovlin points to “realistic expectations” in his team.