George Russell has slammed the five-second time penalty awarded to him in the opening stages of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
On a weekend where Russell needed to beat runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli, quite literally nothing went his way.
Struggling in qualifying, he lined up seventh while Antonelli took pole position, hindering his chances before he had even turned a wheel in the race.
His situation declined further after the stewards deemed that he left the track and gained an advantage, resulting in a five-second time penalty.
After being served in the pits, Russell spent the rest of the race stuck behind the McLaren of Oscar Piasti, coming home in a disappointing seventh.
With Antonelli taking yet another victory, the Italian only requires a ninth place finish in Mexico City this weekend to officially end Russell’s title hopes.
After the race, Russell was a loss to explain his lack of pace, but slammed the penalty, labelling it “ridiculous”.
“The pace wasn’t good in the first stint, and when I came out of the pits on the hards, I probably did six laps on the same pace as Kimi,” he said to media, including Motorsport Week.
“But then I caught up to Oscar, and I just couldn’t overtake, so six good laps, 50 bad laps.
“I want to understand why the pace was so bad in the first stint; the penalty was a bit ridiculous, but that was the least of my worries after such a bad weekend.
“I don’t have the answers right now, and I need to give it 24 hours to think clearly.”
George Russell laments “narrow” car operating window
Russell also revealed a trait of the W17: it is a challenge to setup, with the slightest change effectively sealing off its performance window
“The window [with the car] is narrow, and we saw in Malaysia [Antonelli] was quickest in FP3 and then we qualified fourth and eighth, and then this weekend, we were both up there in Q2, and then I was nowhere in Q3 and nowhere in the race,” he said.
“He was obviously exceptionally competitive, and there are signs the window is very small.
“I hope that’s an explanation for my lack of pace, but I need to dig deep with my team because it is difficult to understand when you are so far off.”
With his title hopes all but gone, Russell is now targeting aiding Mercedes in sealing the Constructors’ Championship.
“For me, as long as we win the constructors’, that’s the main thing,” Russell added.
“I’d like to finish as best of the rest, but P2, P3, P5 is not the champion, so it doesn’t mean anything.”
Russell knows that with a 123-point deficit, and his teammate likely to become champion in the not-so-distant future, his focus will have to turn to consolidating his position and finish runner-up in the title race.
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