Starting the race in fourth place and finishing in fourth place – so far it sounds like an unspectacular Spanish GP for George Russell. After the start, however, the Briton briefly had one hand on the winner’s trophy. The disappointment of not even being on the podium at the end was therefore great, admitted Russell after the Formula 1 race in Barcelona.
Dream start with calculation: Russell surprises his Formula 1 competitors in Spain
With a gigantic start, the Mercedes driver took the lead right at the beginning of the race. Teammate Lewis Hamilton, who started alongside Russell in P3, did not get off to a good start. Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, who were both on the front row, overtook Russell with a clean maneuver on the outside in turn 1. The Brit managed this under his own steam – or almost. The slipstream effect played a significant role on the long route to the first corner, as can be seen in the graphic below. This gave Russell a speed advantage of around 20 km/h over Verstappen and Norris, who actually started the race at the same speed.
From position 4 to the lead on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya? This brings back memories of Fernando Alonso’s iconic start at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, not only for many Formula 1 fans but also for Russell himself: “I always remember seeing Fernando here in 2012, starting from P4 and taking the lead. I knew it was possible.”
“I dreamed of a start like that last night. I was planning to attack. But I didn’t think it would come true,” Russell also revealed. Nevertheless, he prepared his dream start perfectly during the installation laps. The wind also helped him, as the Briton explained: “I saw the weather forecast. There was a headwind into Turn 1, which meant I could brake very late and very hard into that corner and catch the guys off guard. I did four laps before heading to the starting grid and practiced braking as late as possible on every single lap. I knew where the limit was. I knew how strong the wind was. I knew what was possible with the car. So it was a calculated risk.”
However, Russell had to say goodbye to the pleasure of the lead as he approached lap 3 of 66. On the long start/finish straight, Verstappen in the Red Bull was able to exploit the enormous straight-line speed with the DRS advantage and fly past the Mercedes. The Dutchman immediately opened up a small gap to his pursuer.
Mercedes strategy error ruins Russell’s Formula 1 race
Russell’s first pit stop on lap 15 was another setback, as the Mercedes car was there for over 5 seconds. Although this didn’t put him back in position after adjusting for the pit stop, his chance of victory was gone for good. It also had consequences for the rest of Russell’s race: “The slow pit stop put us behind for the second stint and we came under a bit of pressure.”
What followed was a tough duel with Norris for second place. At first Russell was able to counter the overtaking manoeuvre by the McLaren driver, but ultimately Norris won the exchange on lap 35. Russell came into the pits on the following lap – the decisive moment that set the course for the rest of the race. “We switched to the hard tyres, which was pretty rubbish,” was Russell’s brief assessment.
At Mercedes, they knew that the hard tyre would be slow, said Russell. Nevertheless, he defended his team’s decision: “We wanted to share the risk between Lewis and me, because if we [den zweiten Stint; Anm. d. Red.] If we had extended the gap further, Charles behind us might have become a threat. So overall it reduced the risk and we were able to secure P3 and P4 as a team. That was what it was all about.” At least: Charles Leclerc did not catch Russell and he was able to save fourth place by four tenths of a second.
“Putting George on hard was obviously the wrong strategy. The blame clearly lay with the team. We also had a slow pit stop,” said team boss Toto Wolff subsequently took his team to task. It was already clear on Friday that the white tyres did not offer any advantage. They are slower, have less grip and do not offer any decisive advantage in terms of tyre wear. Accordingly, soft-medium-soft was the best strategy in the race, as the final result shows.
Nevertheless, Wolff defended Mercedes’ strategy decision: It was clear that the soft tyre would be the strongest on this track and therefore the preferred tyre choice. Nevertheless, “we were pretty convinced that the hard tyre would be the right one,” said Wolff in reference to Russell’s situation in the race. Unlike some of the competition, the Mercedes drivers did not have a fresh set of red tyres. This would have given them perhaps two more laps, said Wolff. The team boss continued: “George was the first one we changed. Then we realised that it wasn’t going well. Lewis was able to extend his stint and benefited from this realisation.”
After the Formula 1 weekend in Canada, there were accusations of sabotage against Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was being disadvantaged by the team, it was said. All information about these accusations and how Toto Wolff reacted to them can be found in this video:
After just a few laps, Russell radioed the Mercedes command post: “This tyre doesn’t feel good. I’m already sliding around.” After Hamilton switched to the soft tyres a few laps later, he was clearly faster than his teammate on the older hard tyres. Accordingly, Hamilton passed Russell in the first corner on lap 52 without much effort.
Mercedes back in the fight for victory
Filled with team spirit, Russell was able to put the disappointment of losing the podium behind him and focused on the positive aspects that the team took away from the Formula 1 weekend in Spain. Both Mercedes drivers were about 20 seconds away from victory at the end, which is still a lot, as Russell himself admitted. But: “We know that we had the fastest car last week. You can’t have the fastest car every weekend.”
“Mercedes is definitely back in the fight. We have now had a few races in a row where we have been able to fight for the front rows and podiums,” said Russell. In fact, everything looks as if Mercedes has finally found the key to success again with the new parts on the car. Russell, in any case, sees the momentum clearly on Mercedes’ side and is convinced that the team will take the right steps with the next updates to make a big leap. “I am confident that we will win races this year.”
The success in Barcelona should not make Mercedes prematurely optimistic. Even in the past two years of crisis, Mercedes has repeatedly celebrated respectable successes at the Spanish GP. You can read here why Toto Wolff is optimistic that the breakthrough in 2024 will not be a flash in the pan, but that Mercedes now really has a good F1 car: