George Russell lost a significant amount of time to his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the straights at Silverstone—Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff is investigating the cause
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff emphasizes that the team “needs to understand” George Russell’s top speed issue on the straights at Silverstone. As the Austrian confirms, Mercedes is investigating the deficits on the straights that held Russell back during qualifying for the British Grand Prix.
Russell qualified at Silverstone nearly four-tenths of a second behind his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli. He lost most of that time on the Hangar Straight, where Antonelli was averaging about six kilometers per hour faster.
Both Mercedes drivers appeared to use the energy from their hybrid systems in a similar way on the previous sector through Maggotts and Becketts, which is why the telemetry showed no obvious difference there. The top speed deficit was already apparent in Sprint Qualifying, albeit to a lesser extent, while the difference in the race—at around three to four kilometers per hour—was also significantly smaller.
The Search for the Culprit
After the race, Wolff explained that the team would have to investigate the problem more closely, as no obvious difference was apparent at the engine level.
“He had a problem on the straights all weekend,” said Wolff. “We couldn’t find anything wrong with the engine. It must have been some kind of mechanical issue, whether it was slipstreaming or something else. But the data definitely confirmed that he was lacking something; it’s just very hard to pinpoint.”
“It was much better in the race. We didn’t see that anymore. But nonetheless, it’s something we need to understand.”
Russell Needs to Step Up
Russell himself had already commented after Saturday’s qualifying: “We’ve been struggling with top speed on the straights all weekend and don’t know why. Compared to all the other Mercedes cars, we’re losing six km/h in the final sector and three kilometers per hour in the middle sector. Over the course of a lap, that adds up to a few tenths compared to the other Mercedes cars, so I really don’t know what’s causing it.”
“The team is working extremely hard to figure it out. This morning we thought we’d found the problem because it was already there yesterday, but it wasn’t—which doesn’t make things any easier. If I’m losing five kilometers per hour on the straight, you know you can’t compete.”
On Sunday evening, after Russell managed to salvage second place behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc despite an extra pit stop due to a slow puncture, the Brit admitted that he, too, needs to improve his own performance to challenge championship leader Antonelli.
Russell Grateful, but Realistic
“The feeling was good, but the lap times were slow. And as I said, there were factors beyond my control that contributed to that, but also things that were within my control,” he says ahead of this coming weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, where he trails Antonelli by 25 points.
“I’m still struggling to understand this car. I’ll probably leave this weekend—even though I’m extremely grateful to be on the podium—feeling more dissatisfied than I did in Canada, when I retired while leading.”
“If I want to fight for the world championship, our performance has to improve. I have to get better. I have to work better with my team. We have to maximize everything. We’re in a tight battle with Ferrari right now, so it’s not just Kimi and me—Lewis is still very close as well. We have to step it up.”
