P1racenews AI automatic summary:
George Russell: Austrian GP “worse than I could even imagine” after “perfect storm”
George Russell expressed his disappointment with his performance in the Austrian Grand Prix, describing it as “worse than I could even imagine”, following his victory in Canada just two weeks prior. Despite already having adjusted his expectations for the weekend, Russell struggled to keep pace with the leading drivers, finishing more than a minute behind the race winner, Lando Norris. Russell attributed Mercedes’ lack of pace in Spielberg to the W16 car being too sensitive to high temperatures, an issue that the team has been striving to resolve for the past six months without significant progress. The challenging race conditions in Spielberg, including high track temperatures and rough tarmac, created a “perfect storm” that contributed to Mercedes’ underwhelming performance. Unfortunately, Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli retired on the opening lap of the race after an incident at Turn 3.
