Mercedes has conceded that it waited too long to decide whether to swap George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli during Formula 1‘s Mexico City Grand Prix.
Russell spent several laps urging the Mercedes pit wall to let him past Antonelli after their opening pitstops, arguing he could chase down Oliver Bearman ahead.
The team eventually agreed, but by then Russell’s tyres had overheated, and his chance was gone, instead allowing McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to displace both cars.
“It was a really tricky situation,” Mercedes’ communications chief Bradley Lord explained in a post-race video.
“We had Kimi driving in a way to manage his tyres, managing to a one-stop and doing exactly what was being asked of him.
“George was obviously under pressure from Piastri… closing that gap and then in the dirty air, using more of his tyres because of that and also feeling that he had pace to get past.
“We did eventually decide to swap and I think in hindsight regardless of whether we decided to hold position or swap, it was the delay that didn’t work out for us.”
Mercedes accepts missed opportunity
By the time Russell cleared Antonelli, his tyres were “past their best”. This left the Briton unable to catch Bearman or resist pressure from Piastri later on in the race.
Meanwhile, Antonelli, who was returned the place to head Russell home in sixth, was also frustrated, citing that the team had “missed an opportunity to take fourth”.
“It was very difficult to overtake in Mexico with the low downforce, very difficult with the dirty air phenomenon that seems more penalising now than at any part of these rules since 2022,” Lord highlighted.
“So it was a tricky situation and we probably didn’t get everything right in how we managed it.”
The takeaway was simple: “The lesson is really that we should have been more decisive either in asking to hold position or swapping the positions rather than waiting the time we did.”
READ MORE – Kimi Antonelli wants review into Mercedes team orders at F1 Mexico GP
Discussion about this post