George Russell failed to beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton this past weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix as he finished the race in sixth as compared to the 38-year-old’s fourth-place finish. Following the conclusion of the race, Mercedes engineer Mike Elliot has now explained why there was such a difference in the level of performance between the two. The 49-year-old revealed that the difference in performance came because of the different setup that Russell “elected” to have for himself.
Elliot gave this explanation during Mercedes’ post-race debrief. When asked by a fan to explain the setup contrast between Russell and Hamilton given the requirement of low drag, Elliot explained that the Silver Arrows made individual setups for the two drivers based on how they felt on the simulator.
The British engineer revealed that since Russell felt that a “bigger rear-wing gave him some options“, the 25-year-old “elected to start the race weekend” with that. However, it was only once the race concluded when it was realized that Hamilton perhaps had the better setup for the weekend.
Elliot explained the miscommunication between Russell and Hamilton
After explaining the setup differences between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton‘s cars, another fan also asked Mike Elliot to comment upon the communication troubles between the two drivers during the Belgian Grand Prix sprint shootout. The fan asked Elliot this question after the two Mercedes drivers came very close to each other on the track, and as a result, ended up compromising the lap time of both.
In reply, the 49-year-old explained how there was a lot of “queuing” on the race track before all the drivers began their final flying lap. As a result, there was worry in the Mercedes camp if their drivers would get over the line in time to start their final run.
After stating the same, Elliot added, “We were asking our drivers to speed up. They thought they had less time available than they really did, and as a result of that we ended up with our two cars too close together“.
This miscommunication resulted in Hamilton and Russell managing to qualify only seventh and tenth respectively. However, this was not the only time that Hamilton outqualified Russell as he also did so in the other qualifying session on Friday.
In that session, the 38-year-old qualified in fourth while Russell qualified all the way down in eighth. Hence, considering that Hamilton managed to outqualify his younger British teammate in both the qualifying sessions, it just suggests that he is once again establishing himself as the number one driver of the team.
Mercedes likely to extend Hamilton’s contract after his recent outperformances
Another cause of concern for Mercedes is Lewis Hamilton‘s future at the team. Even though Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has repeatedly stated that the two parties are close to coming to an agreement, no official deal has been signed yet.
As for Hamilton, he has repeatedly stated that he is not planning to retire anytime soon, and that he has a few more years left in him. Although the 38-year-old’s age could be a cause of concern, it is pertinent to note that he has still been beating George Russell this season.
Moreover, Hamilton himself has stated that he still aims to win a record eighth F1 title. Hence, considering the caliber the Briton has, it seems unlikely that Mercedes will want to part ways with him anytime soon.
