George Russell was at a loss to explain his crash at the end of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver made heavy contact with the barrier at turn 19 when he lost control at the end of his final flying lap. He admitted he may have asked too much of his car after losing time earlier in the lap.
“It was a really great lap until turn 12,” Russell told Sky. “I was four and a half tenths up, then lost it a bit at turn 12, similar to Lewis [Hamilton] yesterday, then lost loads of lap time.
“I was still probably a tenth or so quicker than my previous lap and then I went into the penultimate corner, turned in and then the thing just went on me and caught me by surprise. Maybe I was over-pushing, but just pretty disappointed with the damage caused to the car and all the work that’s going to have to go on tonight.”
However Russell was just as concerned by the team’s loss in performance since the previous day. Russell came within a hundredth of a second of taking pole position for the sprint race but could not replicate that form today.
“I’m a little bit confused why yesterday Lewis and I were both in the fight for pole and today we were nowhere,” he admitted.
“The car didn’t feel as put together but the pace was coming easily yesterday. Today it just was not: This morning, also this afternoon.”
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Mercedes introduced several upgrades for their W15 this weekend, but Russell said the variability in their car’s performance remains a factor.
“It just seems like such a theme at the moment that when we find the sweet spot, we’ve got a car that’s capable of pole positions and race wins, when we can’t find that sweet spot we’re nowhere.
“So I mean, apologies for the team, there’s been so much hard work bringing these upgrades and it’s really disappointing my side for the outcome.”
Russell qualified sixth despite his crash and is hopeful the repairs to his car won’t force him to start from the pits. “It shouldn’t,” he said. “But there’s a lot of damage, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. But it’s obviously not the day we needed.”
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2024 United States Grand Prix
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