George Russell finished fifth in the Austin Sprint, after struggling with the Ferraris early in the race. But the Mercedes F1 driver quickly burned his tires on a 44-degree track, and it cost him dearly.
“I was fast at the start and then I had no tires left. The Ferraris were behind me and weren’t slowing down. I told myself if I slowed down they would be in my wake. But I spoke to Lewis and he didn’t have any rear tires left, so we missed something.” admet Russell.
“We have to understand these tyres, it was warmer and it was the first time we ran with the mediums. In practice, the hard tires seemed good, we could attack, but it’s a shame to finish fifth. We will still have an opportunity tomorrow.”
Sixth at the finish, Lewis Hamilton confided in him about his difficulties during the 19 laps, with problems with excessive tire wear during the Sprint.
“We’ve had this problem many times.”
“The car felt good yesterday and we were both on the front and second row with George being so close to pole.”
“So it’s a confusing result, because he had one problem, I had another. I had no rhythm.”
“George was at least able to keep his tires for a while so we’ll think about that in terms of set-up. We can make some changes for qualifying but it’s a lot warmer than yesterday so that’s obviously part of it. reason.”
