George Russell left ‘handcuffed’ as Mercedes tweak backfires in F1 Japanese GP qualifying
George Russell explains his struggles in Japanese Grand Prix qualifying after Mercedes set-up tweak.
George Russell says he has been left “handcuffed” by a set-up tweak made to his Mercedes Formula 1 car at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Russell was beaten to pole position by 0.298 seconds as his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli topped qualifying for the second race weekend in a row at Suzuka.
The Briton, who is four points ahead of Antonelli in the world championship after the opening two races, complained of a lack of rear grip throughout qualifying as he consistently lost out in the final sector of the lap.
It has now emerged that set-up changes were made to Russell’s Mercedes ahead of qualifying, which left him battling oversteer.
“We made an adjustment on the rear of the car in qualifying but it was tiny, it was meant to be transparent,” Russell explained to Sky Sports F1.
“I went out and it felt so bad, it was like something was broken on the rear. It didn’t improve and I had to adjust my driving style a lot.
“I had to remove a huge amount front wing to compensate because it was almost like I was spinning off at the entry to the corner, and the last corner I couldn’t get round, I was almost spinning in this corner.
“Really annoying. Don’t know what happened.”
With set-up changes now locked in under F1’s parc ferme rules, Russell will have to carry the problem into Sunday’s grand prix, which could hamper his hopes of winning.
“The reason we changed it was just balancing the car out,” he added. “I don’t want to get too much into details but it was only a very small change. It’s something we’ve always done in the past.
“So either it has a much bigger impact than we realised, or we did something wrong, or something’s broken.
"Unfortunately we’re a little bit handcuffed now. That’s two weekends in a row… China we were quick throughout and just got unlucky in Q3. Here was odd.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted Russell is now at a “disadvantage” compared to his team-mate.
"We did a set-up tweak on the other side," Wolff told Sky Sports F1. "Something we expected to have less impact than it had and it put the car on the nose, so too much oversteer and that made it very difficult for him.
“He needs to carry this into the race now, which is certainly a disadvantage but these things happen."
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