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George Russell says tyre overheating is blunting the benefit of Mercedes’ latest update after a difficult Friday practice at Sepang.
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Mercedes brought seven new components to Sepang, including changes to the floor, diffuser and sidepod profile, RacingNews365 reports. Both cars ran the update on Friday, but trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said the team had been chasing a difficult balance and had not seen the lap-time gain it wanted. [1]
Russell was second in the first practice session, almost four-tenths behind Max Verstappen, then seventh in the second, just ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Russell said the warm conditions and tyre overheating were partly cancelling out the benefit of the extra downforce. Shovlin said test items used in the first session might have complicated the assessment, but Mercedes still appeared to trail Red Bull when both cars ran a more representative configuration in the second. [1]
Russell hopes Mercedes can get the car into a better operating window overnight and fight at the front. Shovlin expects some improvement in single-lap pace, but sees the team’s longer-run pace as the tougher problem. [1]
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