(Motorsports news) In Austin, the Mercedes driver had to slow down to save fuel, and in Mexico, he had to slow down to control spiraling brake temperatures after spending many laps trying to pass Carlos Sainz. When he was able to press harder on both instances, his tyres refused to respond. In Mexico, he finished sixth, losing out to Lando Norris in the final laps while just holding off Daniel Ricciardo.
“It was just a race dictated by tyres once again,” Russell stated when asked about his afternoon. “The car felt really strong, and I was right behind Carlos; I just couldn’t make the overtake. However, we had to pull over because my brakes were overheating, as they were for many other drivers,” Russell remarked. As soon as I backed off, I lost all of the temperature in my tyres and would never be able to recover it.
“It was like driving on ice for the last 15 laps, and a pretty miserable feeling and very lucky to finish P6.” Russell stated that the upside was that he realized why he had lost performance. “It’s never fun when you’re the defending driver on the back foot,” he said. “I just really struggled with the tyres throughout that race, and it was pretty clear that as soon as I backed off, I lost all the grip, and I couldn’t recover it.”
“I’m not too concerned since I understand why. But it’s been two race weekends in a row for two different reasons: the first was gasoline, and I lost my tires because I backed off to manage the fuel, and the second was brakes. That provides some clarity.” Russell also stated that the revised kit Mercedes debuted at the US Grand Prix performed admirably well at Mexico.
“We were strong here last year, we qualified on the front row,” he went on to say. “Last year, we should have had two cars on the podium.” So it’s clearly working great. “However, this weekend has been all about tyres, as it has been for everyone.” Yesterday was a complete surprise for many teams, for better or worse. “I’m hoping Brazil isn’t too sensitive.”
Also read: Ricciardo says the F1 Mexico Grand Prix was “the weekend I dreamed of”
