Mercedes has revealed that an errant pit stop during the Formula 1 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix marred George Russell in his quest for victory against Lewis Hamilton.
The German marque suffered its first defeat under F1’s latest regulations, at the hands of Ferrari and Hamilton, in Barcelona, last week.
Despite starting the 66-lap race from pole, Russell struggled to keep the seven-time World Champion and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli at bay.
In the end, Antonelli was forced to retire from the event with an engine failure, while Russell took the chequered flag in second – some 20 seconds behind race-winner Hamilton.
In its customary debrief video, Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord revealed that Russell’s plight was augmented by a botched pit stop that “compromised” the Briton’s race on his final stint.
“In our final pit stop, we actually incorrectly adjusted the front wing owing to a problem with the adjuster gun,” Lord said.
“That meant that he was working with a very, very oversteer-y balance that certainly compromised his pace in the final stages.”
Russell had been forced between a rock and a hard place by the Ferrari strategists on his opening stint anyway.
Hamilton had committed to a three stop strategy pretty early on in the race, forcing Mercedes to pit Russell earlier than planned.
“I felt solid at the start and just slowly eking out the gap to Lewis,” explained Russell. “He obviously committed quite early to the three-stop and then we covered, but stuck on the two-stop.
“From that point onwards it was quite challenging and just didn’t have the pace and wasn’t feeling too happy with the Hard tyre.”
George Russell could have won the F1 Barcelona GP “in theory” – Mercedes
From what ensued on track, it seemed as though the SF-26 and Hamilton had been more than a match for Russell – who is yet to win a race since Australia, in March.
But Lord believes that despite the apparent pace deficit to the Ferrari, Russell could have theoretically challenged his former Mercedes team-mate for the win.
The team surmised that intra-team squabbling between Russell and Antonelli, which saw the Italian pass his team-mate but eventually retire from the race, and the timing of the VSC that allowed Hamilton to pit and retain the lead all contributed to the loss.
“In theory that is a race we could have won,” he added. “We had really strong pace with George on the medium tyre in the opening stint.
“Kimi was very strong on the hard tyres in stints two and three, where George was a bit less comfortable with the car.
“But we could only have won it we’d have got everything right. We lost race time with the two drivers fighting each other in that second stint and then also in the third stint. Then obviously with Kimi, ultimately, we had a reliability failure that cost him any chance finishing at all.
“It’s true to say that Ferrari were a little bit fortunate with the VSC that put Lewis out on track ahead of our car at that final pit stop. Had that not happened, then he’d have had to fight his way through the field.
“It doesn’t mean the result would have necessarily changed, but we could have put ourselves in a stronger position to claim that win.”
Russell would be hoping for a better turnout for himself and the team at the Red Bull Ring, in two weeks’ time, having won the Austrian GP back in 2024.
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