F1 News

Shovlin of Mercedes over george russell and lewis hamilton

Russell lacked confidence: 'On the back foot from the start'

30 June 2023 at 20:18
Last update 30 June 2023 at 23:07
4
  • GPblog.com

George Russell had a Friday in Austria to quickly forget. Unlike his teammate Lewis Hamilton, the Briton did not manage to get into Q3. His eventual 11th starting spot for the Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring was not what Russell had hoped for beforehand. Hamilton got the fifth starting position.

Looking back at qualifying, Andrew Shovlin (Mercedes' Trackside Engineering Director) knew what was lacking: "We've struggled for high-speed grip today and ultimately that's where we were losing out in qualifying. George had a tough session; he's lacked the confidence in the rear to really push and ultimately if we can't give him that in qualifying he'll be on the back foot from the start."

'Car not fast enough'

In his team's press release, Shovlin also addressed Hamilton's performance. "Lewis had a better session, but the car isn't fast enough and P5 for him is all we could expect. We're hoping the long run will be better than the single lap but we've got tomorrow morning's qualifying to get through first and there's a decent chance that it will be a wet session."

It is no longer possible to make all kinds of adjustments to the car before Saturday's Sprint. Still, it will be busy hours before the Mercedes people go to bed: "We've got tonight to have a look into the single lap performance and hopefully we can find a bit more, although we're limited in what we can tune as we are now in parc fermé."