Russell saw 'disastrous' Mercedes pipped by 'semi-decent' rivals at Imola

19:02, 18 May

Updated: 20:21, 18 May

byNorberto Mujica

For George Russell it was not a pleasent Imola Grand Prix with his Mercedes car giving him the feeling it was somehow broken. The Briton saw the Germans outclassed by 'semi-decent' rivals.

Circa the mid-part of the race, Russell went on the radio to report what he thought was a broken track-rod at the rear of his car. Mercedes replied that they could see nothing in the telemetry or the sensors.

"Well it was just like my rear wheels were moving," explained Russell to media like GPblog after the race in Imola.

"So we'll review it. There was nothing obvious standing out, but just even [in] a straight line, the car was moving around, but the rear tyres were through the roof," added Russell.

'Semi-decent' effort from rivals was enough to beat Mercedes at Imola

"We do have a bit of a fundamental because either the fronts are overheating or the rears are overheating, circuit to circuit," said the Briton before conceding that this is not the first time this problem presents itself for the German squad and saw a Mercedes weaker than its rivals.

"But it's not the first time we've reported that so it was probably just the first time where all of our rivals probably had a semi-decent race."

Inconsistency has proved to be the Achilles heel of most top teams, save for McLaren, with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes all having bad races at one point or another. This time it was Mercedes' turn, Russel notes.

"I think the fact is every team has a disastrous race weekend at some point. Red Bull had a disastrous one in Bahrain. This is our first one of the year, so of course I'm not very happy, but, you know, your car isn't gonna be podium position week in, week out."