Sports
George Russell made it four accidents for Mercedes drivers in four consecutive days of track action with a crash in Friday practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
RUSSELL’S heavy impact with the barriers in the high-speed Esses followed Lewis Hamilton spinning out of the US Grand Prix on the second lap last Sunday, Russell crashing in qualifying the day before at the same corner, and a spin for Hamilton at high speed in the Esses in Austin Friday practice.
Russell, who was winded but otherwise unhurt in the crash, said: “It seems like it’s one thing after another at the moment. It’s frustrating, as in first practice we were really fast.
“I tried taking the same line cutting that corner and for whatever reason on this occasion the thing just started going on me.”
Russell, who set the pace in the first session by 0.317 seconds from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, was taken to the medical centre for mandatory checks because of the size of the impact. He said he was “OK”.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Russell said. “The car just started bouncing on the ground and before I had a chance to catch it, I was already spinning, a lot of work for the guys tonight, again.”
Bouncing was part of the cause of the accidents both Mercedes drivers has at Turn 19 in Austin last weekend.
Hamilton, who was seventh fastest in the second session, said of his run: “I know what we need to fix. Whether or not we can actually do that, we’ll see. It didn’t feel terrible, a little bit off the front. (Some) rear end. You always want more rear.”
The seven-time champion did not run in the first session as his car was being driven by his replacement in 2025, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian was 12th fastest, 1.202secs behind Russell.
Hamilton’s car continues with the upgrades introduced last weekend in Austin, despite their crash-strewn weekend in Texas. Russell is using an older specification because he damaged his new parts with his qualifying crash and Mercedes have not had time to build replacements.
Title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had difficult days.
Verstappen’s first session was cut short by an engine problem, which then prevented him from doing any timed laps in the second session after Red Bull failed to fix it.
The Dutchman, who leads Norris by 57 points with five races to go and 146 points still available, described it as “a day to forget” but said there was no risk of a grid penalty for using too many engine parts.
Norris ran only in the second session, which was almost entirely devoted to a Pirelli test of 2025 development tyres, because his car was being used by IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward in the first.
The Briton, who was fifth fastest, said: “Not great. Lack of laps compared to most others but playing a little bit of catch-up.
“Not a great feeling, it’s hard to get a good feeling around this circuit just because it is very low grip.
“I’m sure it will be fine tomorrow but not the most comfortable, so a bit of work to do.”
Norris is running a new floor specification, on which McLaren have been working for many months, while team-mate Oscar Piastri, who was second fastest in the second session, was on the previous spec.
Norris said: “Good for a back-to-back (comparison) but it’s not really much better, so… Oscar was quick today. I was a bit off.”
Piastri said he “seemed to be in good shape”, adding that McLaren “still (had) some pace to find to Ferrari but we are in the mix”.
Sainz was fastest in the second session with team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth.
Leclerc did not run in the first session because his car was being used by reserve driver Oliver Bearman, who crashed with Alex Albon’s Williams at the Esses early on.
The Ferrari’s front left corner was damaged while Albon had a heavy impact with the barriers and Williams could not repair his car in time to run in the second session.
Albon called Bearman an “idiot” over the team radio but race stewards took no further action, saying in their report that both drivers accepted it was a “racing incident”.
Albon said: “Listening to the radio, he got told very late that I was coming up behind him. He tried his best to speed up into the high-speed corners. We caught each other at exactly the worst moment on the track you can. There was a 100km/h difference in speed.
“I don’t blame myself but I don’t think it’s all on Olly. He could have been told a bit better also he’s new and the closing speeds in F1 are much higher than in F2.”
Williams were unable to repair Albon’s car in time for him to run in the second session.
As well as Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari, a number of other teams used the first session to fulfil their mandatory requirement to run drivers with little F1 experience.
Fernando Alonso, celebrating his 400th grand prix this weekend, was replaced in first practice by reserve driver Felipe Drugovich, and Robert Schwartzman took over from Zhou Guanyu in the second Sauber.
Photo Caption: The Mexican Grand Prix is live on 5 Live and the BBC Sport website
Culled from BBC
26th October, 2024.
C.E.
Tags: George Russell
