F1 News: George Russell Contradicts Lewis Hamilton's Different W15 Setup Claim - "Pretty Similar"
George Russell has contradicted teammate Lewis Hamilton's claim that his W15 F1 car was set up differently for the Bahrain Grand Prix. He emphasized that both cars "were pretty similar" and that he hadn't focused greatly on his teammate's setup.
Key Takeaways:
- George Russell contradicts Lewis Hamilton's claim of differing setups for their W15 F1 cars, stating they were "pretty similar."
- In Bahrain qualifying, Russell secured P3, and Hamilton placed P9. On race day, Russell finished fifth, Hamilton seventh, with overheating issues due to an unsuitable cooling configuration.
- Despite Hamilton mentioning varying setups and discomfort with race pace, Russell refutes it, saying both cars were similar, his more focused on race performance during qualifying.
In Friday's qualifying session, a noticeable gap emerged between the two W15s, with Russell securing P3 and Hamilton placing himself on P9. On race day, Russell finished fifth, and Hamilton finished seventh as Mercedes grappled with overheating problems. The team had opted for a cooling configuration that proved unsuitable for the higher-than-expected temperatures in Sakhir during the Grand Prix.
Hamilton had revealed after the Bahrain GP qualifying that the two Mercedes cars were set up differently. He told the media:
“[On Thursday] during my work, we were doing identical car setups, and I was feeling great.
“We veered off – he went one way, and I went the other. You could say that the one I was on is not good on a single lap, but I hope it’s good in the race.
“I wasn’t comfortable with my race pace [in practice].
“So I changed the car to hopefully make the race pace better but we’ll see if that’s really the case.”
However, teammate Russell contradicted Hamilton's claims that both cars were running similar setups. He said:
“Many people have said this.
“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].”
Mercedes Press Image
The divergence in views between the two drivers arises as Hamilton enters his final season with Mercedes before transitioning to Ferrari, while Russell takes on the role of the lead driver following the departure of the seven-time world champion.