Mercedes driver George Russell finished in P7 after qualifying P3 at the Imola GP last weekend. Before Imola, Russell had finished in the top five of every Grand Prix so far this year. Mercedes appears to be the third-fastest car this year, after McLaren and Red Bull; Russell’s result in Imola can be attributed to bad luck and track conditions.
No big concerns for pace after Imola GP
George Russell appeared relatively unconcerned with his P7 finish after six straight top-five finishes. The British driver has led his Mercedes-AMG Petronas team swimmingly so far this season. Russell has showcased his consistency and ability to fight objectively faster cars for position going into the F1 Monaco GP.
In a print media session on Thursday, Russell denied the theory that his race result was due to particular track conditions that were detrimental to the Mercedes. He went on to explain the relationship that Mercedes had to the different tyre compounds so far this season.
“I think it’s not quite as straightforward as just isolating temperature or track temperature, it’s also a function of how smooth the tarmac is and how soft the tyres are.
“So in Saudi we did the majority of the race on the hard tyre, C3 tyre, Imola was the C4 tyre, Bahrain it was pretty hot but that was the C2 tyre so there’s never one reason but the trend is there and the pace we showed in Imola, it wasn’t actually too dissimilar to what we saw in Miami but Miami everything was very smooth and things went for us and that’s how we got on the podium.”
Russell on where Mercedes stand in the running order ahead of F1 Monaco GP
With George Russell scoring four podiums and rookie Kimi Antonelli finishing consistently in the points, Mercedes sits in a comfortable second place in the constructors’ championship. Mercedes is 16 points ahead of Red Bull and 33 points ahead of Ferrari.
The temperamental nature of the RB21 has played right into Mercedes’ hands. The consistency of the Mercedes has enabled it to achieve some impressive results. The Imola GP was not the result Russell was looking for due to a unfortunately timed VSC and Safety Cars, although that was the case for many drivers.
“Last weekend, probably without the safety cars and VSCs, we would have probably finished fifth, which is the same as what we showed in Jeddah. So on a good day we’re third, on a bad day we’re P5, P6.”
In his print media session, Russell gave an estimation of where the Mercedes sits alongside the front runners at this point.
“Well, I think we’ve been probably on average the third best team this season, but being the third best team has often found ourselves on the podium or qualifying in the top three, so it’s, yeah, not quite as straightforward as it once was in the past.
“Obviously, Red Bull only have Max performing at the moment. Lando and Oscar are both there in the race, but sometimes their quali performance is a bit inconsistent and we can sneak in, but then equally Ferrari they sometimes have better races they sometimes have worse races. [Ferrari] were pretty good in Imola in the race pace, they were pretty good in Jeddah as well, but now we’re in Monaco where they’ve been the kings of in the past, but maybe their new car isn’t as suited, so you know right now we’re not too sure.”
