Mercedes blames a slow outlap for the fact that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell only took fifth and sixth starting positions in qualifying for the 2023 Formula 1 race in Brazil. Both should have been more aggressive on their warm-up lap – like the two Aston Martins or world champion Max Verstappen.
Both Mercedes actually had a good starting position at the start of Q3 and drove onto the track behind the two Aston Martins when rain threatened. However, they did not use this opportunity to get their tires into the correct working window.
While Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll did everything they could to get the tires up to temperature on their outlaps, Hamilton and Russell took a more cautious approach. On the way out of the pits, Russell was even overtaken by eventual pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who was also driving aggressively.
“You can see how small the differences are in the outlaps and the temperatures, and I think we weren’t adaptable enough,” says motorsport boss Toto Wolff to “Sky”. “The Aston Martins just pulled away. Max, who had just come out of the garage with warm tires, also drove away and they were the fastest cars.”
“We were a second slower than before or eight tenths slower than the best time, and that shows what we should have done,” says the Austrian and believes that in these conditions any starting position between one and eight would have been possible.
Hamilton: “Fifth place is never that great”
Mercedes’ chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin believes lining up in the pitlane was the right thing to do, but says Mercedes didn’t take the tire temperature factor into account.
“For our last run we left the garage early and lined up at the end of the pit lane,” he says. “It was clearly right to be at the front of the field, but we had lost too much tire temperature while waiting for clearance.”
“That’s why we didn’t have good grip at the beginning of the lap. That was particularly costly because the track was wet due to the rain.”
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton believes that the gap to Verstappen, which ended up being 0.742 seconds, wasn’t really representative of Mercedes’ pace compared to Red Bull.
“Fifth place is never that great,” he says. “I did my best. Hopefully we’ll have a better race. The car showed signs of good performance. But we’re usually a few tenths off the front. I think the circumstances at the end, the conditions, maybe pushed us a little further thrown back.”
Formula 1: Russell doesn’t give up the podium
George Russell describes how he “just slid around” on his lap and had no grip at all. “I didn’t see that much rain on my visor,” he wondered. “I was a second off my old pace and wanted to come into the pits because I was sure I would be last, but I’m sixth.”
He praises: “The team did a good job, the car performed well.” That’s why he thinks the podium on Sunday is “definitely” still possible. The two Aston Martins start in front of the two Mercedes, which are rather surprisingly in the second row and could have the worse racing pace – at least Russell hopes.
He doesn’t expect a fight against Max Verstappen at all, but Charles Leclerc could still be a factor, as he has a good starting position with second place, but usually has to struggle with the tires. “I expect two or three stops,” says Russell. “Everything is possible.”