Mercedes
Russell misplaced plenty of tyre life combating Norris at the beginning, and pitted very early in consequence. That triggered a flurry of stops from others, which wound up closely influencing the race. He was picked off by Leclerc in these stops, however then recovered some locations by not stopping underneath the late Security Automobile. He managed to carry on regardless of these a lot older tyres to come back house within the factors. That Security Automobile was triggered by Antonelli stopping out on observe with a throttle downside. He’d been having a enjoyable race, defending onerous from Hamilton for a lot of it earlier than dropping again with each Mercedes drivers struggling on the mediums at present.
George Russell, seventh
“Immediately was difficult and, clearly, P7 just isn’t the place we wish to be. I struggled with the rear finish of the automobile from the start and was not in a position to get into a great rhythm. With a comparatively excessive observe temperature, we had been affected by overheating on the rear axle. It was subsequently powerful to maintain the tyres in the precise window and the tempo mirrored that. We couldn’t match the leaders’ tempo, so it was very a lot harm limitation.
“We are going to take the learnings from this weekend and transfer shortly on to Monaco. I’m wanting ahead to getting out on observe there. We’ve been good and constant in qualifying this season with robust single laps and this can assist subsequent week. Monaco is certainly one of these races the place loads will depend on Saturday and I’m assured in how we will carry out there.”
Kimi Antonelli, DNF
“Immediately was a disappointing method to finish my first house Grand Prix. You by no means wish to have a DNF however for it to come back right here at Imola is much more bitter. That stated, I’ll treasure the reminiscence of this weekend. The help from the followers has been unimaginable. They saved cheering for me each lap, regardless of the struggles with our efficiency.
“Sadly, we simply didn’t have the tempo to struggle for the highest 5 at present. I made a great begin regardless of being on the Laborious compound, however the pace within the automobile wasn’t there to maneuver ahead after that. I defended actually onerous in that first stint and managed to maintain Lewis (Hamilton) behind me. We took benefit of the Digital Security Automobile to make our cease however after that, I began to have a problem with the throttle. I began to lose energy on the straights and each lap it was getting worse earlier than we needed to retire the automobile. We’ve got the chance to bounce again right away in Monaco so we’ll take the learnings from right here and apply them to subsequent weekend.”
Bradley Lord, Group Consultant
“That was comfortably our most tough Grand Prix of the season up to now. To come back away with P7 and a DNF is way beneath the requirements we set ourselves as a crew.
“From the early laps, George reported an absence of rear stability, and he struggled to maintain the rear tyre temperatures underneath management, which led to accelerated degradation. This pressured us into an early cease, and onto a two-stop technique. He made his second cease underneath the VSC for Esteban’s retirement, and had battled his manner again into the factors when the Security Automobile was known as out for Kimi’s DNF. It was clear that we’d stay on observe throughout this, and George then battled onerous to the flag – he was unable to carry off Lewis’s fresher-tyred Ferrari behind however then was in a position to maintain place to the end.
“For Kimi, we ran an offset technique, beginning on the onerous tyre and making up a place at the beginning. He was operating solidly once we took benefit of the VSC to swap to the Medium tyre and tried to take this to the end. Kimi managed the stint effectively however then started to undergo a degrading throttle downside, which in the end stopped the automobile on lap 45 – the primary retirement of his F1 profession.
“General, the efficiency image was a sobering one at present: whereas George certified strongly, we had been unable to race the vehicles round us and suffered a big tempo limitation from tyre overheating on the rear axle. The first focus of labor within the days forward to know why we suffered so badly, after which to take advantage of the chance we now have to bounce again subsequent weekend in Monaco.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“Immediately was a tough day for the crew and drivers. We weren’t fast sufficient to problem on the entrance and, to make issues worse, suffered a reliability failure
“We’re working to know the problems on Kimi’s automobile, however the throttle pedal was progressively deteriorating and ultimately the system switched off for security. That downside is unlikely to be too difficult to resolve in time for Monaco fortunately.
“Our larger concern is across the tempo. It has been one other scorching race, and we had been giving the rear tyres an excessive amount of of a tough time. We subsequently suffered from poor grip and degradation all through. We have to get on prime of that shortly as there are plenty of scorching races arising and we won’t proceed to carry out at this stage. We have just a few days to regroup earlier than Monaco, however we’ll be working onerous to try to enhance from right here.”
