Mike Elliott, technical director of Mercedes F1, gave insight into why this year’s team is stronger on Sunday than on Saturday.
Mercedes F1 seemed to be stronger on Sunday than on Saturday at the Canadian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton was fourth in qualifying, while George Russell finished eighth without being rewarded for the gambling of wearing slick tires in mixed conditions.
However, the final will be a better day for Mercedes F1 and Lewis Hamilton will be on the podium in 3rd place for the first time since the opening round in Bahrain. George Russell finished in 4th place.
In a race debriefing video released by Mercedes F1 after the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, technical director Mike Elliott explained that trying to improve qualifying performance could be even more difficult on race day.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that we are always trading between qualifying and race performance,” said Mike Elliott.
“And when you look at what’s important, the performance of the race generally wins.”
“Looking at the cars we’re competing against, the ones that beat us in qualifying this weekend, we can see that their race pace was inferior. It’s not a radical fix, it’s just a trade. I don’t think
Mike Elliott acknowledges that the downside of trying to improve qualifying performance can be at the expense of race-day gains.
“We are confident that we can take steps to improve qualifying performance, but it can result in poor race performance,” added Mike Elliott.
“And I think we’re balanced in almost the right place with the car we have now.”
Regarding George Russell’s decision to bet on slick tires in Q3, Mike Elliott said it was the driver’s choice, not the team. And even if it didn’t work, Mercedes F1 enjoyed taking risks.
“To be honest, that was George’s call,” continued Mike Elliott.
“George said through qualifying that the road surface would gradually shift towards slick tires. At first I thought it was really amazing, but dry lines appeared, especially in Sector 2 and Sector 3. Could start to do “
“Usually in this situation, it’s the driver who knows how the car feels, so ask the driver. That was an opportunity for George to compete for pole position.”
“The risk wasn’t rewarded, but it was still great. It was still part of the motor race and in fact we really enjoyed it.”
Category: Category: F1 / Mercedes