Mercedes have admitted the small pit stop error which left George Russell struggling for pace in the latter stages of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. The Brit finished the race second, though he was a long way behind winner Lewis Hamilton by the time he took the chequered flag. And he would have lost ground to both his title rivals had team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli not suffered a late DNF when an electrical shutdown struck his Mercedes.
Russell had been faster than the Italian teenager all weekend but, as he fought for pace late in the race, was overtaken by Antonelli and looked set to lose even more ground, until the late problem struck. Antonelli had already been pressuring Russell long before that final stint but it was on those last sets of tyres that a truly obvious performance gap between them could be seen.
Mercedes Deputy Team Principal Confirms Error
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord has now confirmed that a problem at Russell's final pit stop of the Grand Prix has been identified as the culprit. He said: "It was great to see George, after a difficult run of results in the last few Grands Prix, back at his best, taking pole, and fighting for the race win. Doing that also, notwithstanding the fact that in our final pit stop we actually incorrectly adjusted the front wing, owing to a problem with the adjuster gun, and that meant he was driving with a very, very oversteery balance that certainly compromised his pace in the final stages."
Lord added: "It was obviously a milestone weekend for George, with the team as well, his 100th Grand Prix with Mercedes on Saturday, his 10th pole position in his career, and then also his 26th podium finish for the team on Sunday."
Championship Implications
Russell is third in the drivers' championship, while Antonelli is still in top spot despite his failure to score points for the first time this season. But that, combined with Hamilton's win, has opened the door for the seven-time world champion and his Ferrari team to pile the pressure on. Up to now, Mercedes and team principal Toto Wolff have been happy to not get involved when Russell and Antonelli have been battling on track. In most cases, the pace advantage they had over other cars meant they could fight for the lead of a race without actually losing much ground to those behind.
But Hamilton's impressive win has sounded some alarm bells for the Silver Arrows, especially as Wolff felt they helped the Ferrari man by allowing Russell and Antonelli to squabble for the lead. The Austrian felt they had lost up to six seconds of race time to Hamilton as a result and has now admitted that team orders may be needed to prevent a repeat in the future.
Wolff on Team Orders
Wolff said: "That is something we will have to look at for future races when a new competitor comes in, because when they are fighting each other it is fine, it can be very sporting, but when you are fighting against another car, then sometimes you may have to let the faster one through. George had an unbelievable beginning of the race. It looked like everybody was standing still behind him. But then the pace fell away and, in the other two stints, clearly Kimi had the advantage. And we didn't interfere in them fighting, because that's how we've always raced."
"But it's a situation we need to look into for the future, with both drivers, how to handle a situation where there's a pace differential – if we are fighting for a victory, [and] at the risk of losing a victory. And that's going to be an interesting discussion. But always totally transparent to the best interest of the team."
