P1racenews AI automatic summary:
George Russell has confirmed Mercedes are looking into the strange disparity between himself and Lewis Hamilton in qualifying.
The 2023 Formula 1 season saw noticeable disparities between the performance of the two Mercedes drivers, Russell and Hamilton. This trend was evident throughout the year, including races like Abu Dhabi, where Russell qualified impressively and secured a podium finish, whereas Hamilton faced elimination in Q2 and finished behind AlphaTauri. Hungary was another instance of this, with Hamilton claiming pole position but Russell being eliminated in Q1. Russell acknowledged this discrepancy, stating that they have never been consistently at the same pace during the year. He mentioned that their qualifying records over the past few years have been similar, but there has frequently been a gap of around six tenths of a second between them. Russell believes that when you find yourself slightly disadvantaged as a driver, you often end up striving to close the gap too aggressively, which can sometimes have the opposite effect. He acknowledged that he is personally trying to understand this phenomenon and is confident that Hamilton is also working towards figuring it out. In the final standings, Russell ended up finishing eighth, five positions behind Hamilton.
