George Russell said he suffered back and chest pain during Emilia Romagna’s Grand Prix as a result of a “shaping” problem disproportionately affecting Mercedes, and warned drivers on the net that they could not continue until the end of the season if the problem continued. .
Russell managed to finish fourth in Imola after starting 11th, but his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, suffered a disappointing and fruitless race in 13th place and the disgrace of being overtaken by race winner Max Verstappen, leaving the team boss Toto Wolff to describe Hamilton’s car in particular as “unmanageable”.
Mercedes is still suffering from pollution – the strong jump in the right caused by air unloading and loading with the effect of the ground – which makes it difficult to present their car throughout the season. It was especially difficult in Imola. To soften it, Mercedes has to compromise its setting, which affects tire traction and compressive strength and has problems with car bumps.
“Jumping really takes your breath away. “It’s the most extreme I’ve ever felt,” Russell said. “I really hope to find a solution and I hope that every team that struggles with jumping will find a solution, because it is not sustainable for the pilots to continue. This is the first weekend I’ve really struggled with my back and it’s almost like chest pain from the weight of jumping. “
Verstappen won with a pole vault and with teammate Sergio Perez sealed the first final of the Red Bull of Malaysia in 2016. After Charles Leclerc of Ferrari made a casual mistake at the end of the race and retired, he managed to cope only sixth. and Verstappen managed to reduce the difference in the championship before Leclerc to only 27 points out of the 46 he had at the beginning of the weekend.
Verstappen “returns to the track” after the victory of Emilia Romagna in the Grand Prix, while Formula 1 rivals reflect on the failures – video
Russell, meanwhile, took advantage of three cars that came out on the first turn of the first lap, climbing to the sixth. He later overtook Kevin Magnussen of Haas with a good run on the track and eventually finished in fourth place. Behind him, Hamilton suffered his worst weekend of the season.
However, Wolff insisted that Hamilton would quickly return to his fighting self, striving to make a difference with the team and come out stronger than ever.
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“The man is the best driver in the world and he doesn’t have the machinery and equipment under him to perform,” Wolff said. “In a sense, it doesn’t matter if you come in eighth, 12th or 15th, it doesn’t matter – everything is bad. But the real stars who are recovering are not one of the really great ones who have not had certain moments in their careers where things are not going well. This is the case with him now and he will help the team cope. We will stick together during the good and bad days, and Sunday was certainly a very bad day. “
Without scoring a point in Imola, Hamilton is now 58 points behind championship leader Leclerc. The seven-time champion admitted this weekend that his hopes of competing for the title this season are over, with only four races to go. He was disappointed with his race on Sunday, but said he had endured weaker moments in his career. However, he admitted that given the current troubles of the team, he does not look forward to the next round, the very popular debut of Formula 1 in Miami.
This article was amended on April 25, 2022. So far, there are four races, not six.
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