George Russell has described it as a total no-brainer for Mercedes to revert him to an older specification for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, while insisting the team has seen nothing to suggest its Malaysia upgrade failed to work. The tactical shift comes as the British driver faces a grid penalty for taking an additional power unit element beyond his seasonal allocation.
The aerodynamic package introduced at Sepang was initially designed to boost downforce through medium- and high-speed corners. Following a power unit issue that forced a late retirement in the previous rounds and the subsequent grid penalty, Mercedes found a prime opportunity to run a direct data comparison at Marina Bay. Russell has switched back to the aero specification he successfully utilized to win in Azerbaijan, whereas his teammate continues with the newer upgrade.
"For any team, it's always very important," Russell told media, including RacingNews365. "However, there's no sign telling us the upgrade was not working. The car we had in Baku was the same car as we had in Budapest and Zandvoort." The Mercedes driver pointed out that performance fluctuations of up to a second can occur across different venues even when running identical machinery.
Russell expressed confidence that the struggles in recent events were specific to the venue's layout rather than an inherent flaw in the upgrade path. He noted that rival teams experienced contrasting fortunes, but Mercedes' overall pace remained relatively close to key competitors like McLaren and Ferrari. The unexpected engine penalty simply created a timely window to roll back to a proven setup configuration.
Furthermore, Russell clarified that the conversation to revert to the older specification was initiated prior to Sunday's race in Malaysia rather than acting as a direct panic reaction to his retirement. "Well, I instigated the conversation prior to the race on Sunday, so when the failure happened, it was kind of a no-brainer because we were kind of 50-50 about it pre-race," he explained.
Read Also
Andrea Kimi Antonelli akui kesulitan hadapi karakter mobil W17 yang imprevedibel pada kualifikasi sprint Formula 1 GP Singapura di Marina Bay.
Max Verstappen amankan pole Sprint F1 GP Singapura lewat lap dramatis, namun terancam investigasi steward akibat dugaan menyalip saat bendera kuning.
Kesalahan manusia FIA picu masalah Mode Salip di SQ1 F1 GP Singapura Marina Bay, pengaruhi performa mobil.
Continue with Google
Discussion (0)
Join the Discussion!
Sign in easily to start commenting, replying, and interacting with other readers.
Latest Comments
No comments yet. Be the first!