Russell knows where Mercedes need to improve: 'Not racing or engineering'

F1 News

Russell disappointed with Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort
27 August at 17:34
Last update 27 August at 18:15
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

George Russell had a disastrous race at Circuit Zandvoort. The British driver ended up at the back of the Dutch Grand Prix, but the big problems occurred before that. The same weather problem also hampered his teammate Lewis Hamilton. 

Weather watch

Russell knows exactly where Mercedes need to improve. "As a team, we need to review because we're getting the information coming into us, and the weather was misjudged. So it's not anything to do with racing or engineering. It was clearly just a weather misinterpretation, and that ruined our afternoon. So we really need to look into what happened, why the others decided to pit, what information they maybe had that we didn't, and make sure we don't make the same mistake again," Russell told GPblog and others.

"They told me it's going to be two minutes, and I could manage for two minutes in those conditions, but it just got heavier and heavier, and it lasted for ten minutes. It was a real shame, to be honest, that it happened this way, but we live and learn."

Hamilton suggested that he might've been able to compete with Max Verstappen for the race win had he not been out of position due to qualifying and rain strategy. Russell also knows that Mercedes had a quick race car.

"The race was over before it really got started. The podium was missed, and then we made a good recovery and then just a contact with Lando. An unfortunate racing incident caused the puncture. Disappointing, but good that we had a fast race car," Russell concluded.