Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were in contrasting moods after Mercedes endured a frustrating Sao Paulo GP. Hamilton, 39, could only muster a singular point in Brazil, finishing tenth, while Russell enjoyed a productive weekend, taking fourth at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.
Hamilton did thank his team for their efforts in South America, but the seven-time world champion was scathing about the performance of his car, as it struggled to go round the corners in the rain. Russell enjoyed a lot more joy on the track and looked likely to threaten eventual winner Max Verstappen at times.
The King’s Lynn native will also be pleased to hear he will not be docked points, despite the FIA penalising Mercedes post-race for undergoing tyre pressure adjustments during the 10-minute delay to the start of the GP. Nevertheless, the result did little to improve Hamilton’s mood.
Sky Sports made it clear that Hamilton thought the weekend was “disastrous” and it was the “worst this car has ever been”. When it came to Russell, the mood was different, as he told his team “thanks for your hard work for these last three weeks”.
After the race, Hamilton did thank the Mercedes team for their efforts, but continued to be brutally honest about the speed of the car. He said: “We were just slow.
“The car was really, really tough. I do really want to still say a big thank you to the guys in the garage. They turned up super early this morning and still did a great job throughout the weekend.
“Everyone back at the factory I know they’ll be feeling the pain. The team could’ve won also today so at least one car was behaving OK. The car is like a plank of wood. No suspension, bouncing on the tyres everywhere and can’t get on the power anywhere.
“The worst ride definitely that we’ve ever had, particularly through corners. Just so stiff. But hopefully, we won’t have any more bumpy tracks. I think the last three aren’t so bumpy. I could happily go and take a holiday.”
Meanwhile, Russell praised his team for their performance in the conditions. He also admitted he was stunned that a safety car or a red flag did not appear, given the torrential weather conditions. He said: “I was shocked, to be honest. I mean, we could barely keep, like, I couldn’t keep my foot on the gas down the straight. The car was aquaplaning, exceptionally dangerous for those couple of laps, but they like action, I guess.”
Asked about his thoughts on the car and the decisions the mechanics made, he added: “You know, we’re in this together as a team and we would have already taken P4 ahead of the weekend. We’ll go over it. Sometimes it’s difficult to predict what’s about to happen, everybody is doing their best and making the best calls with the information available.
“Normally, when it’s drying, it’s the team’s call to say ‘let’s go to slicks’, when it’s getting wetter, it’s normally the driver’s call to say slicks to inter or inters to wets. I was pretty, well, I was very confident it was going to go Safety Car or a red flag, because it was like driving a boat.”
