George Russell believes Mercedes will receive an advantage following the introduction of the new engine technical directive at this weekend’s Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, rather than be hurt by the updated rules.
Power units manufacturers are not permitted to run a ‘party mode’ throughout the weekend, which is primarily used in qualifying on a Saturday.
Mercedes has held a power unit advantage so far in 2020 with Williams and Racing Point using engines from the German manufacturer as well as the factory team.
Russell reckons Mercedes’ customer teams will lose out more in qualifying but is optimistic that in race trim the new directive will help its prospect.
“Unfortunately it will probably affect us and Racing Point more than Mercedes, purely because Mercedes are so far ahead in qualifying anyway,” Russell said.
“So this will only help them even more during the race. The whole idea of trying to slow them down is actually going to go completely the opposite way.
“It is only going to enhance their performance.”
Williams’ pace has taken an upturn this year, as it has managed to escape the Q1 dropzone on multiple occasions – an achievement it failed to grasp in 2019.
Russell believes the new technical directive will cost Williams a couple of tenths in qualifying, but thinks it will be able to benefit during the grand prix.
“On a Saturday it’ll probably compromise us a tenth or two,” Russell admitted. “We expected to also compromise the other manufacturers a tenth or so.
“So we are probably a net tenth down on a Saturday. But on Sunday we are definitely up by a big margin.
“What Mercedes have done to improve the engine, to allow us to run a very high engine mode for the whole race is really impressive. It is going to be fine on the Sundays.”
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