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was it really about tires? Russell complained about power steering issues, and the hards looked pretty durable today.
Mercedes said the power steering wasn't an issue in the 2nd half (per Sky). Russell said post-race that he destroyed the tires pushing too much when he saw Max come out of the pits on lap 25. Never mentioned the steering. Antonelli almost caught him on much older, but better managed tires. No excuses really. Russell should have been P2. Kimi could have been P2 (without bad qualy). Missed opportunities today, but very encouraging pace from Kimi in the last 3 weekends.
That screenshot really doesn't tell any true part of the story. Max proved he had the quickest car by easily setting the fastest lap on the last lap, he was saving a lot of the race and just maintaining a gap and Norris had a serious engine problem at the end of the race.
This kind of tire destroying from Russell wasn't uncommon to see in 2022-2024 against his previous teammate that was known for race pace (but lost his qualifying ability in a qualifying formula...). The problem with this year and Mercedes is that Antonelli hasn't driven most of the circuits, has zero experience with Pirellis, and didn't know what he was doing for most of the season. He was like bull in a china shop for most of it.trinidefender wrote: ↑23 Nov 2025, 07:49
What doesn't make sense to me is how did Antonelli get his tyres to last so long while George had the complete other situation of burning up his.
ah okay, I missed that. I'd still say today it was the right approach from Russell, though. 2nd or 3rd doesn't really make a difference anyway, and to have a shot at the win, he had to push early.AR3-GP wrote: ↑23 Nov 2025, 07:45Mercedes said the power steering wasn't an issue in the 2nd half (per Sky). Russell said post-race that he destroyed the tires pushing too much when he saw Max come out of the pits on lap 25. Never mentioned the steering. Antonelli almost caught him on much older, but better managed tires. No excuses really. Russell should have been P2. Kimi could have been P2 (without bad qualy). Missed opportunities today, but very encouraging pace from Kimi in the last 3 weekends.
George in his presser also said that he tried to go after Max and ended up graining his tires and that's why he went slower. He said he figured out how to deal with the power steering issue. Clearly this was a race where George's one-lap pace saved him and one where Kimi was the faster racer.
The steering issue was a nothingburger. He cooked his tires.
https://racingnews365.com/george-russel ... ce-concern“The pace was not bad in the first and obviously made a good start, probably only one-tenth or so slower than Max in that first stint,” Russell told media including RacingNews365.
“After the pit stop, I saw that opportunity to attack and just push really hard for two laps, and I destroyed my tyres.
“I knew with about 20 laps to go, it was going to be very challenging to get to the end, so it wasn't very enjoyable because I just couldn't get around left-hand corners.”
