George Russell has revealed the reason why his Mercedes Formula 1 team almost literally melted into a disappointing result at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with a performance described by the Brit as “dead slow.”
Russell produced another splendid performance in qualifying, the Mercedes splitting the McLarens by snatching third from Lando Norris late in the session at Imola.
However, the race did not go to plan for the German marque, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli retiring and Russell labouring to seventh, his lowest finish of the season so far.
When asked by Sky F1 if the result was a case of bad luck, Russell adamantly pinned the poor showing on the hotter weather being a primary cause.
“No, we were definitely not [with] bad luck, we were just dead slow,” he said.
“I mean the trends are pretty clear, when it’s hot we’re slow, when it’s cold we’re quick, and that was the same last year.
“We’ve been doing everything with the set-up to try and find solutions, but there’s clearly something more fundamental in the car.
“It’s not the first race of the season where we’ve been slower than Ferrari, and even slower than Williams, or the same pace as Williams, but we’ve just somehow managed to get a result out of it on these occasions. But today, we were very lucky to finish P7, in all honesty.”
‘Fundamental’ issue reported but not found by Mercedes
Russell revealed that he was uncomfortable with the car on the reconnaissance lap at Imola, and his Mercedes engineers, after being notified by him, began a thorough examination of the car.
This was picked up by Sky’s cameras prior to the race, sparking concern as to whether Russell had an issue that threatened his performance in the race.
However, Russell said that nothing was found, but he continued to feel something throughout the entire race.
“It was very odd,” he said. “I mean on the laps to the grid I was reporting problems with the car and I thought something was wrong.
“The team had a good look around and saw nothing and that feeling continued for 60-odd laps after.
“We do have a bit of a fundamental [issue] because either the fronts are overheating, or the rears are overheating, circuit to circuit.
“But it’s not the first time we’ve reported that. So it was probably just the first time where all of our rivals probably had a semi-decent race.”
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