George Russell said Mercedes’ pace in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was the worst it has been for several years.
Having run third early in the race, Russell fell to seventh at the finish, which is the first time all year he has finished outside the top five.
Russell admitted he hoped to benefit from championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen fighting each other at the start. He made his dismay clear on the radio when Piastri left the outside line clear for Verstappen, exclaiming “what is he doing?” as the Red Bull driver swept around the outside into the lead.
“I made a great start and I was hoping Oscar was going to move over slightly just to block Max in, but he didn’t,” said Russell after the race.
He struggled behind his two rivals and was soon passed by Lando Norris, and pitted shortly afterwards.
“It was just downhill from there,” admitted Russell. “It was a disastrous day, I had no pace and I was glad to see the chequered flag.”
He said the warm conditions did not suit the Mercedes. “We knew it was going to be challenging. We’ve always been slow when it’s hot out there and today it was hot.
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“But right now I don’t have any answers. It was probably the worst day we’ve had as a team in a couple of years, in terms of pace. So we need to get back to the drawing board.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli had no better luck in his first home race as his W16 broke down. He felt happier with its pace prior to then.
“It was difficult in the first stint, I was mainly stuck in a DRS train and obviously the tyres took a hit, so I was just trying to hang on,” he explained. “Then we were lucky with the VSC and then back on the medium [tyre] and to be honest I had high hopes.
“But then after a couple of laps I started to have the throttle issue and then at the end it completely went off. Of course it’s a shame, but [these] things that happens.
“I think overall the pace was not too bad at the end of the day. Of course with[out] the issue, I don’t know how much better it would have been.”
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