Mercedes is dealing with some tension after the Japanese GP. With Ferrari and McLaren getting closer, the fight for 2nd place is open.
Mercedes has a lot to deal with after the Grand Prix in Japan. Starting from the tenseness between the drivers.
Looking at the last few races, the team wasn’t able to optimize the potential of the car like the first half of the season. The W14 was a little unbalanced the whole weekend in Suzuka. During Free Practice sessions, the silver arrows had some problems with the race pace. The Qualifying sessions weren’t the best either, with Hamilton in p7 and Russell in p8. For the 7 times World Champion, this was the worst qualification since 2012.
But things didn’t go better on Sunday as well. While the McLaren’s tried to chase the unstoppable Max Verstappen and the Ferraris tried to reach the podium, the Mercedes were fighting each other. After the Safety Car, George Russell tried and succeeded to overtake his teammate at the last chicane. Lewis Hamilton didn’t seem happy with the attack, and he overtook the car number 63 a lap later.
With its 5.807 m, the incredible turns and the high temperatures, the Japanese track is one of the most technical circuits on the calendar. It’s important to manage the tyres and have a good pit stop strategy. Pirelli had even assumed a double pit for the drivers to face the high tyre degradation. And while Mercedes achieved that with Hamilton’s car, the same cannot be said about Russell’s strategy.
Mercedes ⚔️ Mercedes
😮#F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/ZfZRj5niJ1
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 25, 2023
When the strategy doesn’t pay off
The box opted for one pit strategy, and he had to wait until lap 25 to stop and change for hards. When he went back on track, it was behind his teammate. On lap 35, Hamilton pits again to gain a position on Carlos Sainz, while Russell was left out. On fresher tyres, both Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc were able to overtake the British driver.
At this point, he was vulnerable to both Hamilton and Sainz. Hamilton suggested swapping the cars, while Russell wanted to use the same DRS trick that Sainz used in Singapore. It seems that there was some indecision in the Mercedes box on what to do and Toto Wolff, who was away while recovering, had to call to give his team directions. And it came out as an order from George Russell’s race engineer.
Hamilton and Russell swapped places, but there was nothing to do against the Ferrari number 55. Sainz had fresher hard tyres and with DRS was able to take the 6th position from the British easily. The race ended with Hamilton 5h and Russell 7th. Mercedes, currently second in the Constructor Championship, has 305 points. Only 20 points more than Ferrari. But it was the drivers’ reaction the thing that surprised the most.
The coldness between the “Britcedes”
After the order of the team to swap the cars, both drivers were silent on the radio. Even during the usual parade after the checkered flag, the two didn’t say a word. In the parc-fermé, Russell went away without even glancing at his teammate and the same can be said about Hamilton, confirming the coldness between them.
During the post race interviews, George Russell said that the fight wasn’t for any big position, and it didn’t change the race result. Hamilton said that they should have swapped around earlier. He then added:
“I think if we had inverted, maybe George would have had a better time holding him behind, but because he was trying to fight me and damaging his tyres then I think it just made it all complicated”
-Lewis Hamilton
He also made it clear that the most important thing now is for one of them to be ahead of the Ferrari in order to keep the second place in the Constructor Standings.
Team. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/vwnsNICKnD
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 24, 2023
The German team was fast to dissipate any rumor of a crisis between the “Britcedes”, as fans call them, with a video of the two of them congratulating each other.
However, with Ferrari getting closer and McLaren on the rise, Mercedes has to work as a team to keep the knights of the Cavallino and the Papaya Army behind.
