Russell unimpressed that "team decision" has "probably" hindered Mercedes
F1 News
George Russell and Mercedes would have been hoping for a bit more at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The German team looked to have some great pace during the free practice sessions, but come qualifying time on Saturday, they could not find enough time to put themselves into the top three. Russell was only able to take P5 at the end of qualifying, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton was even further down in P7. After qualifying, Russell spoke about how reverting back to an old floor may be hindering Mercedes' performance.
Mercedes brought a new updates package to the W15, hoping to break through and improve their floor performance. That updates package included a new floor, which was used at Spa (on Friday only), Zandvoort, and Monza. However, with the track results not consistent enough, along with the data from the updates, the German team decided to revert back to the old specification for the weekend in Baku.
On Friday, around the Baku City Circuit, Mercedes showed some great straight-line speed and cornering pace as they looked to find their fourth win of the 2024 season. Russell continued by taking P1 in the final free practice session early on Saturday afternoon ahead of eventual pole sitter Charles Leclerc. But while Leclerc and Ferrari could find extra pace and consistency in qualifying, Russell and Mercedes could not, and Russell highlighted a reversion back to the old floor could be a reason why.
Russell unhappy with a change to the floor
P5 in qualifying is the worst result for Russell in the last few Grands Prix, and speaking to several media sources, including GPblog, after qualifying, the Brit said that the old floor is a big reason why: "Well, I qualified third last week [in Monza] on the new floor, qualified fourth in Zandvoort on the new floor, and I've qualified fifth today, so..."
Russell was then asked who decided to change from the new floor back to the old floor on the W15, to which Russell said: "It was a team decision. And we were substantially off the pace in the race, but clearly, there was some performance in the car in qualifying the last two races, so I think [it's] probably validation that it's not the floor that's making the difference."
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