Mercedes drivers are disappointed with the results of Saturday’s sprint in Sao Paulo as they believe tire problems were the main reason for the problems.
George Russell (4th): “This is a tough pill to swallow, but the sprint was quite confusing. Unfortunately, everything always depends on these ties and whether they can be achieved effectively.
Especially in the last two phases, no one really knew how to achieve this. Some people did it, for example a week ago Ferrari did it during qualifying in Mexico City, and then we managed to find a good pace during the race, but today we didn’t have the speed we expected.
That’s why I don’t even know what to expect in tomorrow’s race. Of course we are not too optimistic yet, but the weather conditions will be different on Sunday and this could change everything radically.”
Lewis Hamilton (7th): “It was terrible, the sprint was not fun at all. I started off well, but then I just had a lot of balance problems.
Initially the car had a strong tendency to understeer, then it started to oversteer, on the verge of skidding, and from the first laps I was forced to literally fight with the car. And by the end of the distance the tires were completely worn out.
I don’t even know how to solve all this before the Grand Prix, because the cars are in a closed park. Tomorrow we certainly have a long day ahead of us. I can only assume that we did something wrong when selecting the settings. But as it is, that’s what it is.
On Sunday I plan to fight, I will do everything I can to do so, but I can say with certainty that we will not claim victory. I’ll just try to see if there’s a better way to approach the tires.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
