George Russell has highlighted reliability as a “big concern” for Mercedes after Kimi Antonelli retired from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
The Italian driver had just overtaken his team-mate when an electrical shutdown on his W17 ended his afternoon just four laps from the chequered flag.
Russell subsequently reclaimed the second position he had just lost, earning 18 vital points to cut his deficit to Antonelli in the F1 drivers’ standings to 50 points.
Mercedes was beaten on strategy — and pace — by Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton already disappearing into the distance from second on the grid when disaster struck for the 19-year-old.
The Scuderia’s aggressive three-stop approach left the Toto Wolff-led team torn between its original two-stopper and pivoting to pitting its drivers an extra time.
The Brackley-based squad found itself in no man’s land, and Hamilton — who is second in the standings, nine points ahead of Russell — capitalised before the first virtual safety car period handed the seven-time F1 drivers’ champion a free stop.
With track position and fresher tyres, a first Ferrari victory for the 41-year-old did not look in doubt, despite being pincered between the two Mercedes for much of the race.
Russell — who controlled the opening phase of the grand prix before his pace dropped off, in part due to the confused strategy from the pit wall — was asked whether he felt he had maximised his car’s potential.
“I’m not sure,” the six-time grand prix winner told media, including RacingNews365. “We need to look at it afterwards, to be honest.
“I think Lewis would have come through regardless, but he obviously jumped us with the Virtual Safety Car, and I got fortunate with Kimi’s failure as well.
However, it was not being beaten by his former team-mate that worried Russell most; the Briton reflected on Mercedes’ poor recent run of reliability, after he experienced a power unit failure in Canada — not to mention the difficulties McLaren and Lando Norris have endured with its own supply from High Performance PowerTrains (HPP).
The 28-year-old added: “So, it’s a shame to see how the race ended for him and obviously for us as a team and as HPP, we’ve had a few failures recently, so that’s a big concern for us.”
