F1 | Mercedes: Engine problems for Russell, Hamilton smiles

The Mercedes pair had mixed fortunes in Friday’s free practice sessions for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

George Russell had to change his engine after an initial problem, compounded by further troubles towards the end of the day. After FP1, Mercedes discovered an anomaly in Russell’s engine analysis, so decided to replace him for FP2, thus delaying his entry into the afternoon session.

The team is confident that the removed engine can be used again and will be thoroughly analysed, but it is believed that the change was made for precautionary reasons rather than an obvious failure.

“Not yet. I don’t know exactly, we just knew we had to change the engine,” he said when asked if the cause of the problem had been identified.
“We had an issue in FP1, which obviously delayed the session, and then we had an issue at the end of the session as well.”

“It wasn’t our best Friday, that’s for sure, but Lewis looks quick, so we know the car is capable of doing something good. But again Ferrari looks really, really strong around here, they always seem to be quick in Baku.”

Even when he did get some riding, Russell didn’t seem too happy with his performance, so he knows he has a lot of work to do. “I felt good, but not great,” he added.
“I struggled, I was definitely off the pace compared to Lewis. I struggled to get to grips with the car and get the tyres in the right window, so I need to try to improve a bit for tomorrow and try to close the gap.”

Lewis Hamilton, however, looked more positive after finishing FP2 in third place, just 0.066 seconds off Charles Leclerc’s best time. The seven-time world champion said he was cautiously optimistic that he could have a good weekend.

“It was a really positive day. I had fun today, I started off strong and made progress with the set-up and for once I felt like I didn’t have to take any steps back, but could constantly build,” he said.

“I don’t know how my long run compares to the others, but we haven’t done a huge amount of laps. Red Bull seems quite quick, as does Ferrari, but we’re there or thereabouts.”

“On this day you don’t know what everyone’s fuel load is and often when you get to FP3 or especially qualifying everyone makes a step forward and so far we haven’t done that, not always.”

“I think we’ll stay cautious and try to do the best we can with what we have, hopefully we’ll be closer to the front than it looks, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”