Compared to a decent Friday outing of the Mercedes F1 Team during the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, Saturday’s qualifying session was far from good for both Hamilton and Russell.
Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton exited shockingly at the end of the first qualifying round, while his teammate George Russell qualified in 6th, albeit a late crash not only compromised his final lap but also the laps of others behind him.
Russell became a victim of Austin’s Turn 19 after collecting a hefty snap of oversteer that sent him straight into the barriers. Despite the visibly light impact with the barriers, the front-right suspension took a toll on a team in need of car parts replacements.
Russell was visibly upset during the qualifying aftermath, admitting that he had pace for a better result than P6.
“I was on a really strong lap. I was five-tenths up at one point but then it went away from me in Sector 3, and then obviously I had the crash.”
“It was really disappointing because the team have worked so hard to bring these upgrades to the car, and I was just trying too hard to find something that in all honesty wasn’t there and paid the price. Really quite upset with how that’s ended, but not much more to say.” – Mercedes’ driver noted.
Russell confirmed that the team does not have enough spare parts to replicate the upgrade package between both cars, although teammate Hamilton suggested to switch the W15-s parts ahead of Grand Prix.