Russell Calls Red Bull the Team to Beat, Antonelli Points to Mercedes' Internal Factors
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- George Russell menilai Red Bull kini menjadi patokan utama di Formula 1 setelah performa impresif dalam tiga balapan Asia.
- Kimi Antonelli menyoroti bahwa masalah utama Mercedes bukan hanya kecepatan Red Bull, melainkan kesulitan memaksimalkan paket upgrade W17.
- Balapan di Austin menjadi ujian krusial bagi Mercedes untuk membuktikan potensi upgrade sekaligus peluang Antonelli mengunci gelar.
George Russell stated that Red Bull has become the team to beat in Formula 1 this season. The remark came after Max Verstappen delivered a dominant run across three Asian races, with convincing wins in Malaysia and Singapore, plus a narrow finish 0.196 seconds behind Russell in Baku.
For Mercedes, the situation is more complicated. The Brackley-based team introduced a major upgrade package for the W17 in Malaysia, but the results have yet to meet expectations. The Sepang circuit's coarse asphalt was cited as a factor that made the data hard to read. In Singapore, Russell ran the old specification while Antonelli tested the new package to gather comparison data. The early conclusion: the upgrade is promising, but its operating window is very narrow.
“The numbers show performance in line with expectations, but the lap time isn't good yet. We need to understand how to make it work,” Russell said after the race, as quoted by Motorsport.com. He also said he was not too bothered by the bad luck from virtual safety car timing that hampered his recovery to ninth place. According to him, Mercedes' main focus is finding extra performance.
“The most important thing for us as a team is to find a way to find more performance, because Red Bull's showing has been very impressive over the past three weeks at three different circuits. Right now they are the team to beat.” – George Russell
When that remark was put to Antonelli, the championship leader did not immediately call Red Bull the new benchmark. He judged the situation to be driven more by Mercedes' own learning process. “Maybe it's mostly because we haven't extracted the maximum potential from the new package. Red Bull has indeed made a big step, and Max is more comfortable with his car. So it's a combination of several things,” Antonelli said.
Antonelli revealed that Mercedes has not yet achieved the on-track performance gain predicted by simulation and the wind tunnel. “We see the benefit, but the car's operating window right now is very narrow. The car is very sensitive to how you drive, how you corner, how you brake. The reactions are different,” he explained.
Both the team and the drivers still need to adapt to the new car's character. Because of that, Antonelli is looking forward to the race at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, which offers three free practice sessions. “In Austin we have three FPs, so we can be more open with the set-up. Hopefully we find a way to use the full potential of this package and finally see the benefit,” he hoped.
Although Red Bull has shown major progress, Mercedes is believed to still hold reserve performance that has not been seen in the past two weeks. Antonelli was also pleased with the progress in understanding the car in Singapore after Malaysia left many question marks. “The team did an outstanding job this weekend, making the car better and giving me confidence. This is a starting point to keep working,” he concluded.
With the Austin race set to be the real test, the question now is: can Mercedes open that narrow window and turn potential into a podium, or will Red Bull pull further away at the top?
