Russell Labels Sao Paulo 'By Far The Weakest Race Of The Year'

Monday, 06 November 2023 at 05:00

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Mercedes F1 driver George Russell reflected on the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix race at Interlagos Circuit, which he could not finish.

Mercedes team started looking strong after bringing upgrades to Austin when Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in P2 during both the United States Grand Prix and the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Silver Arrows achieved a one-two in Brazil during the 2022 season, so the team must have felt confident going into the weekend. However, the results were more than disappointing.

Starting from P5 on the grid, Lewis Hamilton got into P3 but then lost multiple positions and finally crossed the line in P8. George Russell seemed like he had a bit more pace but had to retire his car due to technical issues.

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The British driver said Mercedes hoped the terrible pace from the sprint race on Saturday would not transform into the bad race on Sunday. Russell told Sky Sports:

"Clearly we got something wrong this weekend. Still not too sure what that is as yet but the pace just hasn't been there. We thought yesterday may have been a one-off but clearly it wasn't."

Hamilton was so put off by the "horrible" sprint race he told the media Mercedes wouldn't be winning in Sao Paulo this year. Russell acknowledged the contrast in results from 2022 and 2023.

"So we need to regroup, try and understand it because 12 months ago this was our strongest race of the year. 12 months later, by far our weakest race of the year. Very strange"

The Mercedes driver explained the reason for his retirement on lap 58. Apparently, his Mercedes engine was overheating so much he would not be able to make the 13 remaining laps of the race without it exploding.

"The engine was overheating, and it would have broken had we not retired. So it kind of topped off the day, but I just really need to understand what happened to the race."