George Russell has raised doubts about Lewis Hamilton’s statement that they pursued divergent set-up strategies during the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.
Russell secured the third position on the starting grid, trailing behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, whereas Hamilton concluded in a somewhat disheartening ninth place, lagging by 0.225 seconds from his Mercedes teammate.
The seven-time world champion disclosed that he opted for a different set-up approach than Russell, aiming for improved race performance.
“Thursday, was really good. Me and George were on the same set-ups but he went ‘left’ and I went ‘right’. ‘Right’ was definitely not good for a single lap but I felt more comfortable with more fuel, so I hope that reflects in the race,” Hamilton explained.
“I’ve definitely sacrificed more than I hoped to and I hope it pays off. It’s a lot of work to do to get past all those quick cars ahead of me but it will be fun.”
Russell fell back to fifth after starting from third, while Hamilton made a modest recovery to seventh. Both Mercedes drivers encountered unforeseen issues with their power unit temperatures.
Following the race, Russell publicly questioned Hamilton’s claim regarding their set-up differences. The 26-year-old said: “Many people have said this,” Russell said of Hamilton’s set-up choice.
“I don’t really know the big differences, to be honest, because as far as I’m aware with the cars we’re pretty similar.
“I don’t really focus too much on his set-up. Mine was actually more set up for the race than the set-up he ran. At least it was on Friday [for qualifying].”
George Russell, further explaining the issues faced by the Silver Arrows during the race, highlighted that the overheating problem occurred after the third lap.
“The engine overheated from the end of the third lap. As soon as I passed Leclerc, I had alarms on the steering wheel and we were forced to reduce engine power.
“We were unable to show the true potential of the car. We were also forced to do Lift and Coast and that had an effect on the tyres.”
“The problem was simply that our fairing was too closed. Probably a small change would have been enough, perhaps it wouldn’t have affected our lap time so much to open the hood more. But we certainly wouldn’t have had these big problems. Maybe we were too aggressive.”
