George Russell raised recent issues over the standard of Pirelli’s Components 1 tyres, calling their efficiency within the Azerbaijan Grand Prix “infuriating”.
The Mercedes driver completed the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in third place. He ran the identical one-stop technique as all of his rivals forward, beginning on the medium tyres and switching to hards for his second stint.
Russell was perplexed by the variations in his automotive’s efficiency through the race. He fell round 15 seconds off chief Charles Leclerc earlier than his pit cease.
He then dropped as much as 25 seconds behind within the second stint earlier than regularly closing on the vehicles forward. He picked up pace within the second stint and was inside 15 seconds of eventual winner Oscar Piastri earlier than the Digital Security Automobile that successfully ended the race was deployed.
“It was such an odd race,” Russell advised the official F1 channel after the race.
“The primary half of the race, we had been 1.5 seconds off the tempo. The final 20 laps, I used to be a second faster than Oscar and Charles and three tenths faster than Max, Checo and Carlos.
“It’s the identical circuit, identical driver, identical automotive – we simply went from a yellow tyre to a white tyre. Actually, it’s really fairly infuriating that it adjustments this a lot. It’s not simply the Mercedes, it’s each staff and each driver. One session, you’re quick, the following you’re not. And there’s just one factor that adjustments.”
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Russell known as for “severe conversations” available with Pirelli to deal with the inconsistent efficiency of their present F1 tyres.
“I believe even the individuals who make the tyres don’t perceive the tyres,” he mentioned.
“I believe all of us want in all probability severe conversations once more about what’s happening, as a result of we’ve obtained 2,000 individuals working their butts off to ship the quickest automotive. Twenty laps of the race, we had a automotive that was comfy of combating for victory, the twenty different laps, we had a automotive that in all probability shouldn’t have been within the factors – and the one distinction is the tyres. And it’s not ok, actually.”
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