Heat Tests Mercedes F1; Hamilton Strong, Russell to Improve

Mercedes Overcomes Heat; Hamilton Confident, Russell Struggles

30/08/2024

Despite intense heat, Mercedes F1 showcased resilience with Hamilton leading and Russell tackling hurdles.

Mercedes F1 concluded the first day of testing at the Italian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time. The seven-time world champion edged ahead by three-thousandths of a second from a McLaren and a tenth from a Ferrari, anticipating a tightly contested race.

“It was terribly hot in our car. I’m not quite sure why. Around the radiator, it was probably a hot air leak.”

“It was extremely hot. It felt like sitting in a sauna without shorts, a great discomfort.”

Hamilton was buoyed by the pace of the W15, describing the day as positive, with the car “improving progressively” throughout the day.

“It was a good day. On the whole, I felt quite comfortable. It’s obviously new tarmac. It was a bit of a challenge along with all the new curbs. The car performed well right from the start. In FP1, there was a lot of graining. People were having issues with the tyres, us included. We made some good changes during the break. The car kept improving during the session. There’s still some work to do on a few elements, some areas.”

The seven-time world champion also cautioned Mercedes against making radical adjustments to the car’s settings after a promising Friday.

“I feel good. The work we’re going to do tonight, the work we’ll do in the simulator, is going to be very important. We really need to be careful with the settings to avoid taking the car out of its comfort zone as we’ve done too often in the past.”

George Russell had limited track time as he awaited repairs to his car, handed over to Andrea Kimi Antonelli during FP1, before hitting the track. A stoppage further disrupted the second half of FP2, leaving him with scant data to work with for now.

“I’m glad to see that Kimi is okay; it was a big accident. The mechanics did a great job repairing the car, I was delayed but managed to get about half an hour of running,” said Russell, who was benchmarking for Hamilton with the older aerodynamic package.

“The car seems to be fast, Lewis did a great job and was leading. But I need to review things on my side because I only managed three or four flying laps; it wasn’t the most productive Friday I’ve had.”

“They’ve altered the circuit, resurfaced it. It’s improving with each lap; there’s degradation, but it could get better by Sunday. I need to see what I can do; we had the old parts for FP2, and Lewis had the new package. I’ll have it tomorrow too.”

Antonelli is “frustrated” by his “mistake”

For his part, Antonelli was disappointed to have made an error on just his second timed lap: “Frustrated, yes, disappointed, obviously.”

“What a day. My first free practice session. Yes, unfortunately, it ended quite quickly due to the crash. It was quite severe, about 52G (Wolff reported 45G).”

“And yes, really sorry for the team and George for making them work against the clock afterwards to repair and get as much track time as possible in the limited time available.”

“From my side, it was just a mistake on my part, just pushed a bit too hard for the conditions. And yes, I should have built up the run a bit more progressively, but it’s certainly a lesson to take away for next time.”

“I’m still very grateful to the team for making this possible. And it’s always great to see all the tifosi at the track and to do the first laps with all the drivers on track.”

The weekend isn’t over yet for Antonelli. The Italian is also competing in Formula 2 this weekend, where he has qualified in 6th place for the main race of his home Grand Prix weekend.

“Yes, even though I’m not feeling very well right now. I’m just going to get back in shape tomorrow and try to rest tonight, focus on the rest of the weekend, as there are still a few races to go and we will still try to get a good result.”

Heat Tests Mercedes F1; Hamilton Strong, Russell to Improve Heat Tests Mercedes F1; Hamilton Strong, Russell to Improve

Race Center
China Flag
Chinese GP
21 Mar 2025 - 23 Mar 2025
Free Practice 1
21 MAR 03:30 - 04:30
Sprint Qual
21 MAR 07:30 - 08:14
Sprint Race
22 MAR 03:00 - 04:00
Qualifying
22 MAR 07:00 - 08:00
Race
23 MAR 07:00 - 09:00

2025 F1 Australian Grand Prix - Race Results

Lando Norris
1
LANDO
NORRIS
57
Max Verstappen
2
MAX
VERSTAPPEN
+0.895s
George Russell
3
GEORGE
RUSSELL
+8.481s
Alex Albon
4
ALEX
ALBON
+12.773s
Kimi Antonelli
5
KIMI
ANTONELLI
+15.135s
Lance Stroll
6
LANCE
STROLL
+17.413s
Nico Hulkenberg
7
NICO
HULKENBERG
+18.423s
Charles Leclerc
8
CHARLES
LECLERC
+19.826s
Oscar Piastri
9
OSCAR
PIASTRI
+20.448s
Lewis Hamilton
10
LEWIS
HAMILTON
+22.473s
Pierre Gasly
11
PIERRE
GASLY
+26.502s
Yuki Tsunoda
12
YUKI
TSUNODA
+29.884s
Esteban Ocon
13
ESTEBAN
OCON
+33.161s
Oliver Bearman
14
OLIVER
BEARMAN
+40.351s
Liam Lawson
15
LIAM
LAWSON
47 DNF
Gabriel Bortoleto
16
GABRIEL
BORTOLETO
47 DNF
Fernando Alonso
17
FERNANDO
ALONSO
34 DNF
Carlos Sainz
18
CARLOS
SAINZ
0 DNF
Jack Doohan
19
JACK
DOOHAN
0 DNF
Isack Hadjar
20
ISACK
HADJAR
0 DNF
F1 CALENDAR 2025
Race
Date
Chinese Flag
Chinese
Shanghai International
23 Mar
Japanese Flag
Japanese
Suzuka Circuit
6 Apr
Bahrain Flag
Bahrain
Sakhir desert
13 Apr
Saudi Arabia Flag
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street
20 Apr
United States Flag
United States
Miami
04 May

2025 FORMULA 1 DRIVERS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Lando Norris
1
LANDO
NORRIS
25 Points
Max Verstappen
2
MAX
VERSTAPPEN
18
George Russell
3
GEORGE
RUSSELL
15
Alex Albon
4
ALEX
ALBON
12
Kimi Antonelli
5
KIMI
ANTONELLI
10
Lance Stroll
6
LANCE
STROLL
8
Nico Hulkenberg
7
NICO
HULKENBERG
6
Charles Leclerc
8
CHARLES
LECLERC
4
Oscar Piastri
9
OSCAR
PIASTRI
2
Lewis Hamilton
10
LEWIS
HAMILTON
1

2025 FORMULA 1 CONSTRUCTORS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

1
McLaren
27
2
Mercedes
25
3
Red Bull
18
4
Williams
12
5
Aston Martin
8
6
Sauber
6
7
Ferrari
5
8
Alpine F1
0
9
Haas F1
0
10
Racing Bulls
0
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