Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
George Russell finished sixth, whilst Lewis Hamilton retired from the 2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. Lewis lined up P17 on the grid with George starting from the pit lane after the team had to work through the night to repair his car following Saturday’s Qualifying crash. Lewis made a strong start and gained five positions into turn one. Unfortunately, his race ended early as a gust of wind at turn 19 caught him out and left him beached in the gravel.
Lewis Hamilton finished P4 with George Russell P5 in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. George lined up P5 with Lewis P6, both on the Medium tyre and through the opening corners, Lewis managed to get ahead of his team-mate.
Later in that first stint, George used DRS to regain the position before both cars boxed and cycled ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who served a 20-second penalty for forcing the McLaren of Lando Norris off track in multiple incidents. Early in his second stint, it became clear that George’s front wing’s top element had suffered damage. Despite that issue, his pace was still strong, and both cars began to edge away from Verstappen behind. In the closing stages, Lewis passed George for P4 into turn one with his team-mate, therefore following him home across the line in P5. The team heads to Brazil for the São Paulo Grand Prix, the third race of this Americas triple-header.
George Russell
I had a solid first stint but hit a bump as I overtook the McLaren of Oscar Piastri at the start of my second stint and picked up some front-wing damage. It definitely cost me a couple of tenths a lap in terms of performance, which was a bit of a shame. We had to do over 30 laps carrying that, but even without it, we wouldn’t have had the speed to challenge for the podium. Overall, P4 and P5 are likely where we deserved to be today as a team and perhaps a little bit better than we thought going into the race.
We will keep working hard to improve as we want to battle right at the front. As you can see, we continue to progress with the car, with the gap increasing between the teams behind us in the championship. We’ve also closed the gap on Red Bull since the start of the season, but it’s clear that Ferrari and McLaren have made even more progress. We will use these final four races of the season to continue building our learning, test different things out, and set ourselves up nicely for next year.
Lewis Hamilton
We ultimately moved forward and brought home good points today for the team. We weren’t looking so racy in the first stint; I didn’t have enough front wing in the car and suffered from understeer. We were able to improve the balance at our second stop, and our pace got better. Even if we had enjoyed that speed in the first stint, we still wouldn’t have had the pace to challenge those ahead for the podium. P4 and P5 are still slightly better than we predicted today so that we can be pleased with our afternoon.
This hasn’t been the smoothest weekend for the team, but we’ve gathered much information about both specifications. We can now analyse that data and evaluate the best way forward for next weekend in Brazil and the rest of the season. Hopefully, we can get the car in a slightly better spot for Interlagos and take the fight to the Ferraris and McLarens.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO
Overall, P4 and P5 are likely where we are pace-wise with our car at the moment. We cannot compete with those right at the very front on circuits that demand good traction. That is frustrating, but we are working hard to increase performance and build momentum for 2025. These final few races are a good opportunity for us to test different things and put ourselves in as strong a position as possible for next year.
In today’s race, George was hindered by front-wing damage, which cost him a good chunk of his performance. He still drove strongly, and his pace was decent compared to Verstappen behind. The Red Bull never threatened our race after the first pit stop. We also saw that Lewis’s speed was good on the hard compound compared to those at the front once he was in free air. We now head to Brazil and want to end the triple-header as strongly as possible.
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