Russell 'Got Into Trouble' For Pirelli Tire Criticism After Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Sunday, 22 September 2024 at 12:00

Mercedes F1 driver George Russell revealed he has gotten into trouble with some of the words he uses to criticize Pirelli after the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

While George Russell scored a podium during the 17th round of the season at Baku City Circuit, he was not happy with his performance.

The 26-year-old complained explicitly about the tires. While his pace on the hard compound was one of the best, his pace on the medium compound was more comparable to the midfield teams than the top four.

Speaking to the F1 channel after the race, the Mercedes F1 driver criticized Pirelli, suggesting not even the ones who produced the tires understood them. He said:

"Honestly, it is actually pretty infuriating that it changes this much. It's not just the Mercedes, it's every team and every driver. One session, you're fast, the next you're not. And there's only one thing that changes."

"It's black magic. I think even the people who make the tires don't understand the tires. I think we all need probably serious conversations again about what's going on, because we've got 2,000 people working their butts off to deliver the fastest car."

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"Twenty laps of the race, we had a car that was comfortable of fighting for victory, the twenty other laps we had a car that probably shouldn’t have been in the points – and the only difference is the tires and it’s not good enough, really."

Following these comments, George Russell met with Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing, Mario Isola, to discuss and clarify some of the problems.

Nevertheless, it was clear that the 26-year-old still wasn't happy after the qualifying during the following race weekend in Singapore.

However, when asked about the tires after the qualifying, the Mercedes F1 driver revealed that he got into trouble with some of the words he had previously used. He told Sky Sports:

"I get into trouble with some of the words I've used recently, so, you know, the lap times speak for themselves."

Russell isn't the first driver to get into trouble with some of the words that he's used in recent days. FIA controversially ordered Max Verstappen to "accomplish some work of public interest" as a penalty for using an F-word during the press conference. The British driver added:

"We didn't change the car from practice 3. We believe that Lando was maybe two-tenths ahead of me, and I was four-tenths ahead of the next pack."

"So I was feeling pretty great, pretty confident that P2 should be the minimum and that if I do a great job, maybe I could fight with Lando. And then suddenly, in Q1, I'm on the verge of getting knocked out. I don't really get it."