Mercedes “at the mercy of the weather” at F1 British GP

George Russell believes that Mercedes is at the “mercy of the weather” as the team attempts to recapture its form from last year’s British Grand Prix – in which Lewis Hamilton secured his 104th Formula 1 victory.

Mercedes’ performance shortfall in warmer conditions has been well documented over the past two seasons, and the 40C track temperatures had started to push the team away from the front on both short and long runs across FP1 and FP2 on Friday at Silverstone.

But an expected change over the weekend to more overcast conditions should favour Mercedes, given the lower thermal degradation experienced at the rear tyres – which has proven to be the case thus far with a cloudy start to Saturday’s track action.

Russell hopes that conditions will not rise too much over the remainder of the weekend, adding that it is frustrating that Mercedes’ fortunes are so inextricably linked to the weather.

“After [Friday], it’s not very close, but it’s been a bit warmer. The track was 40 degrees, and I hope the rest of the weekend it cools down,” Russell, who recently won a cool Canadian Grand Prix, explained after FP2.

“It’s a little bit frustrating for us that every single week we are at the mercy of the weather, and we need to improve that. Especially now we’re entering the summer months, we’re doing everything we can to improve it. 

“I think our fortunes will turn slightly for the rest of the weekend, and it will come towards us, but as I said, we can’t be at the mercy of the weather, and we are right now.”

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Russell believes that the opposite situation now applies to Ferrari, which has allowed the Italian team to claw back performance and positions versus Mercedes as the calendar now weaves towards the summer months. 

While hoping for cooler weather to ensure that Mercedes’ rear-axle overheating issue does not rear its head, and being open to the prospect of rain in qualifying, Russell added a dry race on Sunday to his extensive wish-list.

He pointed to the greater degradation present in the wet-weather tyres, as these are considerably softer compared to the dry rubber in order to help generate temperature in slippery conditions.

“Ferrari have really turned it up for the last couple of races,” Russell added. “They’ve been strong in race pace all season really, but they’ve been having bad qualifyings. 

“But I think now that we’re entering summer, everyone’s overheating a little bit more, and we’ve really taken a step backwards, and they’ve taken a step forward purely because of the temperature. 

“So that’s probably not great for them for some reasons, but it’s definitely not great for us for other reasons too.

“If it’s wet in qualifying, definitely excited for that. The wet tyre is a bit of a unique one, because the wet tyres actually deg more than dry tyres. 

“So actually, it’s all a bit… I don’t want to get too bulked up in the details here, but actually a wet race probably wouldn’t be ideal. But if we just wanted it nice and cold and dry, it would be ideal.”