Qualification for Mercedes took place according to a rather unusual scenario: problems with the balance of the car prevented Lewis Hamilton from even reaching the second session – he showed only the 16th result. George Russell has fared better and will end up starting in 6th position in the race.
George Russell (6th): “We are a single team, and the day for our team was unsuccessful. We have not been able to fully understand the car yet, the W13 does not have a stable behavior on the track, and we have to make a lot of effort to find the optimal settings, the range of which is very narrow.
In our half of the boxes, we were able to achieve this, although I don’t understand at all how and due to what. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said regarding Lewis’ car. When that happens on a difficult track like this, you just don’t have confidence in the car, you can’t push to the limit.
But our team does not take part in the championship to fight for the 5th or 6th position, this is not enough for us. We lost nine-tenths to Sergio Perez on pole, so we have something to work on.
We know what our problems are and everyone on the team is working day and night to solve them. We will succeed, I have no doubt, but we must be patient. I must also say thank you that despite such a serious problem, our car is still the third fastest, and this inspires optimism.
Therefore, when we solve all the problems, our affairs should improve.”
Lewis Hamilton (16th): “I hope Mick Schumacher was not injured, because in that turn the speeds reach 270 km / h, and it was terrible to see what happened to him. This is the most serious accident we have seen on this track.
If we talk regarding my situation, today I had serious problems with the balance, the back of the car behaved nervously, and we might not achieve what we wanted. Working with the settings, we chose the wrong direction, and today I simply did not feel the car.
It’s strange, because in the third training session I was quite comfortable behind the wheel, but in qualifying there were unexpected difficulties, the car became very unstable.
The team is working hard and trying to keep a positive attitude. Tomorrow I’ll do my best, and then we’ll see what we can achieve.”
Toto WolffTeam Principal: “This is the second race of the season, and once once more it has been confirmed that we are falling behind and not in the positions we should be.
In the case of Lewis, we experimented with the settings, but it only got worse, and because of this, the rear wheels of his car did not hold the track, and it was impossible to pilot normally.
As for George, today he did a good job, considering that in the final session we had only one set of soft rubber. However, today we find ourselves in an uncertain situation between the machines of Red Bull and Alpine, and for us this is clearly unacceptable.
