Mercedes driver George Russell showed his anger in practice ahead of the Australian Grand Prix after team-mate Lewis Hamilton got in his way on track in Melbourne.
George Russell vented his frustration at Lewis Hamilton after he felt he was impeded by his Mercedes team-mate on track in Melbourne.
Hamilton got in his fellow Silver Arrows driver’s way during final practice on Saturday morning. And Russell couldn’t hold in his annoyance – clearly of the belief that it was not an isolated incident.
“Guys, I always find Lewis at s**t points on the track, every time,” he shouted over the radio. Fortunately for the Brits, because it was only practice, it was not a costly interruption and they were able to go about their respective programmes as usual.
And Russell got the better of his team-mate later in the day to out-qualify Hamilton for the fourth consecutive time. He will start 11th on the grid for Sunday’s race while the seven-time F1 champion didn’t even make it to the top 10.
Hamilton will start 11th on the grid and bemoaned his temperamental car after the session. He said: “It felt great in FP3 and it was strange because we were right there with those guys and we didn’t really understand why. But then in qualifying… the inconsistency in the car really messes with the mind.”
Asked what the problems are with his W15, Hamilton replied: “There’s a long list. I think our car is on a bit of a knife edge. In the afternoon the wind picks up here, the same as [it did in] FP2. When the wind picks up the car becomes a lot more unstable.
Mercedes tried out different approaches during practice sessions, but unfortunately, they were unable to increase the speed of their cars.
Team principal Toto Wolff expressed disappointment with the combined qualifying results of Russell and Hamilton, stating that it was particularly disappointing because the team was close in terms of performance in the third practice session.
Wolff acknowledged that the conditions were slightly different, but emphasized that there was no justification for their performance. He mentioned that their car was challenging to work with and that being within or outside the optimal window for performance was crucial. Even though I am frustrated with myself for repeating this for a while, we must persist in our efforts. Our current situation is not satisfactory, not due to a lack of effort, but we need to keep working on it.
In the short run, it may seem like a challenge to catch up with Red Bull, but I remain optimistic that there is untapped potential in our car.
While the car showed promise this morning, it can be difficult to consistently perform at a high level, so we need to persist in our efforts to improve it.