Mercedes reveals costly George Russell pitstop error behind Barcelona pace drop

Mercedes has revealed that a pitstop error resulted in George Russell’s pace dropping off significantly in the final stint of the Barcelona Grand Prix.

Russell had controlled the opening half of the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but his pace fell off dramatically relative to Kimi Antonelli after the swap to the hard tyres.

George Russell pace hit by Mercedes front wing error

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Starting on the medium tyre, Russell controlled proceedings through the first stint of the Barcelona Grand Prix, opening up a gap to the pursuing Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli behind.

Russell had taken pole position and, having held the place, looked to have the pace to take his first race win since the season opener in Australia.

But, following on from the two Mercedes drivers swapping to the hard tyre, Russell’s pace relative to Antonelli ebbed away as the Italian latched onto the back of his teammate and began eying up the lead.

Behind them, an aggressive three-stop strategy from Lewis Hamilton brought the Ferrari driver into play as he pursued the squabbling Mercedes drivers, and the British driver’s challenge was aided greatly by a fortunately-timed Virtual Safety Car that moved him into the lead ahead of Russell and Antonelli.

Shortly after, Antonelli managed to overtake Russell and promptly started to pull away after wrong-footing his teammate into Turn 1, but his likely second-place finish disappeared moments later as he encountered a power unit issue that forced him to retire.

Russell inherited second place and closed in 18 points on Antonelli’s championship lead, but was pragmatic about his performance after seeing his pace bleed away through the second half of the race.

However, Mercedes has now revealed there were extraneous circumstances that led to Russell’s performance fading away, particularly in the final stint: an error during his last stop had been a primary factor.

“It was great to see George, after a difficult run of results in the last few Grands Prix, back at his best, taking pole, and fighting for the race win,” deputy team principal Bradley Lord explained in the team’s post-race debrief.

“Doing that also, notwithstanding the fact that in our final pit stop we actually incorrectly adjusted the front wing, owing to a problem with the adjuster gun, and that meant he was driving with a very, very oversteery balance that certainly compromised his pace in the final stages.

“It was obviously a milestone weekend for George, with the team as well, his 100th Grand Prix with Mercedes on Saturday, his 10th pole position in his career, and then also his 26th podium finish for the team on Sunday.”

While the VSC did help Hamilton to get into the lead, the seven-time F1 World Champion was a serious threat for the victory due to his pace on his three-stop strategy, particularly with the two-stopping Mercedes being held up by Russell’s slower pace on the hards.

Before the race, Pirelli had revealed that the delta between a straightforward two and three-stop race was only in the region of about five seconds, in favour of the two-stop, which Mercedes’ own info suggested would be the correct strategic route.

“As often happens at circuits where the degradation is high and the temperatures are high, it’s quite finely balanced pre-race between two and three stops,” Lord said.

“We felt the two-stop was preferable, and, even when Lewis pitted very early in the first stint, we covered with George to retain track position, as that matters in Barcelona.

“By the time he got to the second stop for the Ferrari, Lewis boxed, and he was just within undercut range, so that meant we couldn’t pit George and retain track position over the Ferrari without potentially coming out behind him, so we chose to commit to the two-stop strategy with both cars.

“As we said before this season, performance is changing from weekend to weekend as teams bring up upgrade packages and conditions, and circuit requirements vary.”

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Having been beaten by a combination of Hamilton’s speed and the timing of the VSC intervention, Lord said that “in theory”, Barcelona was a race Mercedes could have won.

“We had a really strong pace with George on the medium tyre in the opening stint,” he said.

“Kimi was very strong on the hard tyres in stints two and three, where George was a bit less comfortable with the car, but we could only have won it if we’d have got everything right.

“We lost race time with the two drivers fighting each other in that second stint, and then also in the third stint, and then obviously with Kimi. Ultimately, we had a reliability failure that cost him any chance of finishing at all.

“So it’s true to say Ferrari were a little bit fortunate with the VSC that put Lewis out on track ahead of our cars at that final pit stop.

“Had that not happened, then he’d have had to fight his way through the field. It doesn’t mean the result would have necessarily changed, but we could have put ourselves in a stronger position to claim that win.

“This weekend in Barcelona, Ferrari brought a substantial update to their car, and they took a really clear step forward, both in one-lap pace, where Lewis was fighting for pole position, and then obviously in the race as well, where ultimately they took their first win of the season.

“So we’ve said all along that, notwithstanding our strong start to the season, it’s a development race, and we’re going to need to keep bringing performance each weekend, both in smaller and bigger update packages, if we want to continue to race at the front of the field.”

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