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George Russell instructed his staff he wished to modify to slick tyres even sooner than he did in at this time’s dash race, and believes they missed an opportunity to attain extra factors.
The Mercedes driver was the primary to threat switching from intermediate tyres to slicks because the monitor dried throughout the race. He got here in on the sixteenth lap of 24, however believes he may have made the change “a few laps earlier, to be sincere.”
He stated it was troublesome to guage how shortly the monitor was drying on the time as he was working shut behind Alexander Albon, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris previous to his pit cease.
“In these situations once you’re caught behind vehicles it’s actually troublesome to recognise if it’s spray from the vehicles forward or if it’s really a moist monitor,” he stated. “So it’s actually troublesome to guage.
“However I used to be assured the monitor was [ready for] slicks. Clearly there have been solely 13 laps to go, so I used to be telling my staff ‘if that is qualifying, I’d be taking slicks now’.”
Russell climbed to eighth place after his tyre change. He crossed the ending line simply nine-thousandths of a second behind Esteban Ocon in seventh, whereas Nico Hulkenberg was one other 5 seconds forward.
He’s assured he may have switched to slick tyres sooner than he did and believes he may have completed larger up.
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“I like these situations, I like the transition, I really feel assured in these early laps to really feel the grip,” stated Russell. “One, two extra laps we might have been three positions larger.”
“I stated for the 2 laps prior, ‘if this was qualifying, I’d be boxing now for slicks’,” he added. “Then it’s right down to the staff, as a result of then it’s as much as them to find out if the chance is value it.
“We had good tempo even on the inters, so we could have made one or two extra positions, but it surely was a staff staff effort and injury limitation.”
Nonetheless Mercedes staff principal Toto Wolff stated he thought the staff modified Russell onto slicks too early on the time.
“We made that early name for the slicks, which I assumed was a lap too early however proved to be the best name,” he stated.
Mercedes may afford to gamble with their technique as Russell’s beginning place was compromised by the hydraulic failure he suffered in qualifying earlier within the day, stated Wolff.
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“I don’t assume this race was vital for us as a result of once you’re beginning to date again then you definately don’t gather a number of factors,” he defined. “We simply attempt to do the perfect with out considering that there was a prize to win.
“So we took that very early name understanding that if you wish to do one thing completely different, you’ll want to take a threat, and that’s what we did. [It was a] sensible determination from the technique staff. I personally thought it was a lap or two too early, however they made the decision and it was bang on, spectacularly proper.
“I’m unsure that in a protracted race, in the true grand prix on Sunday, we might take the same daring determination. However it paid off and possibly there’s one thing to study from it.”
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2023 Austrian Grand Prix
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