George Russell admits Mercedes is “not satisfied” with its performance after Sprint race error compounds misery in Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix qualifying.
Russell’s afternoon at the Marina Bay Street Circuit went sideways pretty quickly after he took the Sprint race lead from Max Verstappen at the start.
On the very next lap, the treacherous conditions caught the Mercedes driver out as he crashed into the barriers on the main straight.
Heading into qualifying, this, as Russell puts it, compromised the W17’s balance and competitiveness compared to its Friday prowess.
“Yeah, obviously a very bad day all in all and stemming from my own mistake,” he said.
“The objective of the quali was to make sure the car was feeling the same as it did yesterday.
“For whatever reason it wasn’t, which is not sometimes a surprise when the whole team are putting it back together.
“It’s obviously been in the wall, but yesterday we were competitive every lap we did and today was not the case.”
Russell is running an older-spec W17 compared to his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has the Sepang upgrades bolted onto his car.
And while the Italian was faster out on track than Russell, the Briton revealed Mercedes is still not “satisfied” with the optimisation of its package.
“I mean it was positive to see Kimi more competitive today than yesterday,” he added.
“However, we weren’t exactly lighting the timing screen on fire. As a team we’re still not satisfied with where we are with the new package.
“I think we need to make some adjustments to compensate those changes so maybe we can find a way to make it work and be fast.”
George Russell braces Mercedes for “challenging” F1 Singapore GP
Russell’s retirement at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia last weekend meant Mercedes had to force an engine penalty on the Briton for the race on Sunday.
This means Russell will start the Singapore GP from the very back of the grid, something he believes will be a challenging affair given how difficult it is to overtake at this track.
“It’s going to be very challenging,” Russell admitted.
“Kimi had one race starting in 19th and won [and] another race in 16th and was only up to P10 with 10 laps remaining.
“Same driver, same car, but very different outcomes. So, can’t answer your question, I really don’t know.”
That said, Russell is expecting at least a push into the top 10 at the chequered flag. However, he is wary of the W17’s limitations, especially in the context of his miseries during qualifying.
“I was struggling with the rear end and I was overheating the tyres and it was just a bit of a downward spiral,” he concluded.
“Whereas yesterday it all just clicked and it was all working well, so we need to see why that was.”
Russell won at Singapore last time out and would hope his affinity for the streets of Singapore helps score a decent finish for Mercedes on Sunday.
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