George Russell believes it is unfair that his team Mercedes’ rivals are trying to ‘slow down’ the Silver Arrows, in the words of the British driver. The statements from the current championship leader are prompted by, among other things, the controversial front wing of the team. According to Russell, Mercedes has only just returned to the top after four difficult years: ‘Just because we’re now back at the top a bit, I don’t think it’s entirely fair that everyone is trying to slow us down.’
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Mercedes has secured the first two Grand Prix victories, but the W17 of the Silver Arrows is increasingly coming under scrutiny. Even before the start of the season, the increased compression ratio of the Mercedes power unit was still a point of discussion, while after the GP China the front wing of the W17 car became a topic of conversation. The closure of the component on Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s car would take longer than the permitted 0.4 seconds. According to Mercedes, however, the phenomenon was caused by reliability issues.
Mercedes driver George Russell confirms this to the media present in Japan. “It was not intentional, and I certainly don’t think it’s an advantage,” said the current championship leader. “It’s actually a problem, so something we’re trying to solve. There’s no simple solution for it, but it certainly doesn’t provide an advantage. When we brake, the front wing is still open. Kimi had trouble with locking wheels towards the end of the race. I think this was related to the front wing, so it’s certainly not intentional.”
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‘It’s unfair that everyone is trying to slow us down’
Earlier, team principal Toto Wolff already warned of the ‘political knives’ that come out now that Mercedes has an advantage over the rest of the field. Russell agrees with the Austrian that games are indeed always played in Formula 1. “That’s just how it goes in the sport,” Russell said. “It’s always been that way.”
“We at Mercedes have worked hard to reach this position, and the best team should come out on top,” continues the British driver. “We clearly have four difficult years behind us. In those four years there have been two other teams that dominated and won. Just because we’re now back at the top a bit, I don’t think it’s entirely fair that everyone is trying to slow us down, especially not now that we’ve only completed two races. We may have an advantage at the moment, but I think we’ve simply made a good start and done excellent work. We hope this continues.”
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