Third force
Last Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix represented a small but significant step forward for the Mercedes. The Brackley team in Jeddah, on a very fast track which in theory should have favored the characteristics of Ferrari, was able to put both of its single-seaters ahead of those of Maranello, thus certifying its third force status – at least momentarily – behind the unattainable Red Bull and Aston Martin. But in the race the pit wall of the Silver Arrows also had to manage a hint of a duel between its two pilotsGeorge Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who found themselves behind each other on different tires at the restart of the Grand Prix following the entry of the Safety Car due to the technical knockout of Lance Stroll.
Russell ahead of Hamilton
After the pit stop, the seven-time world champion was on a medium compound while the ex-Williams, ahead in terms of track position, had hard tyres. Initially Hamilton was able to put pressure on the sister car, also suggesting that Russell could get an indication from the garage to give way to his more experienced teammate, to give him the opportunity to chase after Alonso. Intelligently, however, Russell began to dither around with his track engineer, preventing his garage from being able to find footholds to force him to hand over fourth position to his compatriot ‘at the table’. A few laps later, taking advantage of the entry of his tires into the right temperature window, Russell extended his pace, leaving Hamilton behind.
No orders, Elliott’s explanation
In the usual debrief video published on its YouTube channel by Mercedes the Technical Director Mike Elliott wanted to go into detail on the matterprecisely explaining the failure to enforce a team order favoring Hamiltonwhich at the time of the restart and in the immediately following laps enjoyed a more performing tyre. “You have to bear in mind that the Safety Car intervened very early, so the last stint would have been very long – Elliott underlined in his analysis – e even if Lewis went out on the theoretically faster tyre, the medium, at the end of the stint the hard would have been much more effective. So even if Lewis could put George under pressure at the start, he wouldn’t be able to do it at the end of the stint. Overall it was not clear which tire was faster or slower over the entire stint. We didn’t think we were in a position where favoring one rider over the other would lead us to a better position in the race. So, we let them go“, concluded the British engineer.
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