George Russell remains in the dark over the Mercedes power unit problem that meant that his running in practice at Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix was restricted.
Russell endured a challenging time at Baku as a precautionary engine change meant that his involvement in the second hour began much later than his counterparts.
Even once he ventured out and got 16 laps under his belt, Russell’s run plan was once again disrupted in the closing stages as he was told to box due to another hitch.
The Briton has revealed that it’s still unclear to him what caused the problem that saw him be resigned to the Mercedes garage across the opening 25 minutes in FP2.
Asked whether he could provide more details on the issue that hampered his running, Russell responded: “For now, no. Not too sure exactly.
“We just knew how to change the engine so we had a problem after FP1.
“Obviously delayed the session and then we also had a problem at the end of the session too so it wasn’t our finest Friday that’s for sure.
“Lewis [Hamilton] is looking really quick out there, so we know the car is capable of something strong.
“But once again, Ferrari look really, really strong around here; they always seem to be fast in Baku.”
Russell, though, was able to divulge that the apparent gremlin that curtailed his track time didn’t turn out to be the water leak the team suspected from a sensor issue.
“Well, the problem was the engine in FP1. Then at the end [in FP2], it was actually a sensor failure,” he disclosed.
“So we pitted because we thought we had a water leak, but we didn’t.”
Russell chasing Hamilton
However, Russell, who languished over six-tenths behind team-mate Hamilton in FP1, has admitted that he has work to do overnight to get closer to the ultimate pace.
“It was feeling OK,” he continued. “It wasn’t feeling superb for me out there. I was struggling.
“We were definitely off the pace compared to Lewis. I was really struggling with confidence in the car and getting my tyres in the right window.”
Not all bad for Mercedes
Meanwhile, as Russell alluded to, Hamilton sustained a productive time on the track as he ended up inside the top three places in both the opening practice sessions.
The seven-time F1 champion propped up three-tenths behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in the first hour and was third in FP2, 0.065s behind Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Hamilton was enthused with how the handling on his W15 – running without Mercedes‘ abandoned floor update – responded to the set-up changes that his side made.
“It was a really good day,” Hamilton expressed. “I enjoyed today.
“Hit the ground running from the get-go, made incremental steps with the set-up.
“For once felt like we didn’t have any steps that we had to come back on. It was like consistently building.
“I don’t know how my long run is compared to others, but we didn’t get a huge amount of laps. I think Red Bull seems pretty quick as does the Ferrari, but we’re there or thereabouts.”
However, Hamilton is cautious towards predicting whether Mercedes can maintain that competitiveness when it matters amid the regression it experienced at Monza.
“I think on this day you don’t know what fuel loads everyone’s on,” he acknowledged.
“And often when we get to Q3 or particularly when we get to qualifying, everyone takes a step and we haven’t so far, we haven’t always.
“So I think we’ll stay cautious and just try to do the best we can with what we have. I hope that we are closer to the front as it seems maybe. But we’ll find out tomorrow.”
