P1racenews AI automatic summary:
It was a mixed weekend for Mercedes in Abu Dhabi with George Russell consistently out-performing Lewis Hamilton in another wild performance swing.
Toto Wolff is finding it difficult to understand the significant performance differences between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, suggesting that the Pirelli tyres might be a contributing factor. In the recent Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton struggled with the performance of the W14 car, qualifying 11th and finishing ninth, while Russell had a smoother weekend, qualifying fourth and securing his second podium finish of the season. This pattern of performance swings has been observed not only in Mercedes but also in other teams like Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull. Wolff believes that these oscillations in performance could be attributed to fluctuations in tyre grip. If the tyres are in an optimal state, providing a stable base for the drivers to work with, they can extract performance. However, if the grip is not there, the performance suffers significantly. Wolff admits that he has no explanation for these variations and suggests that Max Verstappen is the only driver this season who has truly understood how to handle the tyres.
