“We were quite optimistic at the start of the weekend, but we didn’t expect to see our performance in the same window as Las Vegas,” said technical director Andrew Shovlin, accurately describing Mercedes’ Friday. The team arrived in Lusail on the back of a double podium from the previous weekend, but ahead of the weekend, it seemed that their role would be that of third-best. Yesterday’s results told a different story, although there’s still caution in the garage and an awareness that it’s only the start of the weekend. A first answer will come today in the 19 laps of the Sprint, but in the meantime, George Russell placed himself in the front row, just a whisker away from poleman Lando Norris.
There’s a backstory regarding the lap in which George Russell managed to set the second-fastest time, just 63 thousandths behind Norris. In his final attempt, George tried to take turn 14 flat out and succeeded, but by doing so, he confused his power unit. The electronics in the Mercedes engine didn’t recognize that Russell had passed the corner, and as a result, it didn’t activate the extra hybrid power because it thought the car was still on the previous straight. This situation cost Russell about 5 km/h compared to his best lap.
“I don’t know how much I lost,” George explained. “But the exit speed was a bit lower compared to the previous lap. That said, Lando, I think, would still have been on pole even without this issue.” The GPS analysis of Russell’s lap confirmed that the PU anomaly cost him 0.06 seconds. Mathematically, even though these are very small numbers, it would not have been enough for George Russell to take pole position. “Apart from that, I’m really happy – George added – we had a very competitive session, especially in SQ3. Now I hope for a good start, then we’ll see the race pace. I don’t think anyone has a clear picture of the field’s performance in terms of pace.”
Mercedes’ weekend hadn’t started in the best way, with Russell and Hamilton in eighth and eleventh place respectively at the end of the free practice session. “From the analysis after the session, we understood what wasn’t working,” Shovlin admitted. “The changes we made went in the right direction. In the few laps with fuel load, the pace wasn’t bad, an aspect we need to verify in the Sprint.”
In a day with many positive points, Mercedes missed Lewis Hamilton, who finished only seventh in Sprint Qualifying (four-tenths behind Russell) and was very disappointed with the day’s results. After the session, Lewis was a bit sarcastic, giving the impression that he had lost hope of correcting his qualifying struggles that have persisted since the start of the season. When asked what caused the gap to his teammate, the response was blunt: “Who knows? Maybe I’m not fast anymore. As we’ve seen in every other qualifying, I’m not doing well, I’m slow, and it’s been like that every weekend. The car seemed fine, there’s no specific issue, and I don’t think there’s much else to add.”
The brief race simulations were positive, but Lewis quickly tempered expectations. “The long run was good,” he added, “but when you start from far down the grid, it’s difficult to compete for victories. In the race, I’ll do what I can, but I don’t think much will change when it comes to the Grand Prix qualifying. The positive side is that the car is fast, and George should be ready to aim for pole.”
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