Mercedes, hat-trick of victories
In the first three race weekends, Mercedes left the competition with only a few placements, and only at Suzuka did they miss the podium, also due to unfortunate circumstances that affected George Russell‘s race. The #63 stopped just before the Safety Car came out (sent onto the track for Oliver Bearman’s accident), an unfortunate timing that instead rewarded Kimi Antonelli. In addition, the Briton had energy management problems that favored the overtaking by the two Ferraris: Lewis Hamilton’s just after the restart (28th lap), and Charles Leclerc’s at Spoon, ten laps later.
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Mercedes, through trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin, commented on the incidents that complicated Russell’s race.
Shovlin’s words
“If we had stopped George one lap later, he would have kept the lead of the race at the restart,” Shovlin commented. “Instead, he slipped to P3 and lost a further position to Lewis because he reached the energy recovery limit too early in the lap and didn’t have enough battery for the restart. Then he faced another frustrating problem: a bug in the software code, triggered by the simultaneous pressing of a button and a gear change, caused the power unit to go into super clipping and charge the battery, thus allowing Charles to pass.”
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“Clearly, there are many things we need to work on and understand in the coming weeks. We started the season great, but our opponents are closing in,” the Briton warned. “Fortunately, we have several margins for improvement and we will make the most of the break to improve in the areas where we are less strong.”
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