– George Russell believes he and Mercedes have found the cause of his recent problems in Formula 1 – and that he no longer needs to focus on adapting his driving style to get the best out of his car.
Read more “Break your neck”: Antonelli reveals crazy message from Papa Marco
The Brit recently experienced a disastrous weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, where he was half a second behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli in qualifying and ended up in the gravel trap in the race after a collision with Lewis Hamilton at Turn 5.
Prior to his retirement, Russell’s battery had run out on the Kemmel straight, which caught him off guard on the approach to the Les Combes corner complex. Although it was not broadcast on TV, the leaked radio traffic showed Russell’s frustration with his car’s charge status.
In previous races, Russell had tried to adapt his driving style to keep up with Antonelli more consistently. But as he now says, the data from Spa showed that this was not the problem at all.
“Well, basically there were values on the screen that weren’t quite calibrated correctly,” explains Russell. “So it’s not that there’s something wrong with the hardware or a problem with the parts. But in Spa, there were two additional issues.”
Photo gallery: Spa: Driver ratings from Marc Surer and the editorial team
“I think the energy delivery wasn’t quite optimal throughout the entire lap. We also saw that with Piastri, who had a similar problem. So that was one of my issues,” he says.
“But beyond that, we had something separate. It all had to do with the same calibration not being quite right. I don’t want to simplify it to just numbers on a screen, but we now know which values were potentially incorrect.”
“We can fix that, recalibrate things, and restore the engine to its full performance,” he promises.
Read more Max Verstappen: «In the beginning, everyone said I was just complaining…»
Russell says that discovering the calibration issue was a huge relief, as he constantly had to think about his inputs behind the wheel; Mercedes had concluded from previous race data that it was due to his driving style.
For Hungary, Russell believes he can now drive more naturally again and “focus on the simple things” – and he is of the opinion that previous attempts to adapt his driving style were ultimately in vain.
“Yes, that’s an enormous burden off my mind,” he says, “but honestly also when driving itself. Because in some laps at Silverstone and then for most of Friday and Saturday at Spa, I was thinking about how I needed to drive to make the engine fast on the straight – how I apply the throttle, what gear choice I make, how early I am before accelerating.”
Light and Shadow at Mercedes: Antonelli wins, Russell crashes I F1 Spa-Francorchamps Race
“The data told us that was probably the reason, but it turned out it wasn’t. So all that effort over three sessions to re-optimize my driving around a new technique was, in a way, for nothing,” says Russell.
“I’m now looking forward to going into a weekend where I can just try to focus on driving fast and focusing on the simple things.”
“I know that’s when I perform at my best. But we’re not in a simple sport, so sometimes it’s easier said than done to just focus on the simple things.”
Read more Alonso curbs euphoria: «No update in the world» will catch up Aston’s deficit!
