But after Saturday afternoon’s downpour, Russell came back to life. He was Lando Norris’ closest rival in rescheduled qualifying while he was a teammate. Lewis Hamilton He couldn’t find any grip and suffered an exit from Q1.

Russell would then take the lead from Norris into the first turn and hold it for the first 29 laps. Against his advice, Mercedes called him into the pits to get a new set of intermediates.

Conditions were worsening at this point and it seemed inevitable that there would be a safety car or a complete stoppage. After a couple of laps, both things happened.

That gave the cars in front a free tire change and he was unable to overtake Pierre Gasly in the fight for the last place on the podium. Still, Norris felt Russell deserved to wininstead of the slightly lucky Max Verstappen.

James Allison said George Russell’s pace at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was a ‘bad sign’

Russell had what should have been an encouraging start to the weekend. He was second fastest in the single practice session, 0.181 seconds behind Norris.

But Michael Schmidt from Auto Motor und Sport spoke to the technical director James Allison after the session, and received a troubled verdict. Judging by the evidence from the previous races, I suspected that Mercedes could not maintain its speed.

On multiple occasions this season, the Silver Arrows looked like contenders for pole and victory on a Friday before slipping back into obscurity. If it had been a conventional weekend, it would probably have been a similar story at Interlagos.

“Very fun Friday,” Schmidt said on the Formel Schmidt podcast. “Who was first and second? I think Norris was quickest and Russell second, so Mercedes hit the ground running again like the fire brigade.

“I spoke briefly to James Allison, the technical director, who, in complete despair, says it’s actually a bad sign. There are no points (for a Friday) and we simply cannot maintain this speed from Friday morning in the race.”

Karun Chandhok saw something ‘horrible’ on Lewis Hamilton’s onboard camera in Brazil

Normally, Hamilton would shine in wet conditions. The general rule is that individual talent comes to light on a slippery track, where the driver depends more on his instincts than on the performance of his car.

But Hamilton was not a factor in this race. After his aforementioned exit from Q1, he had to fight throughout the race just to score one point.

A Red Bull simulator driver said the Mercedes car is a ‘dumb’ after seeing onboard footage of driver 44. Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok came to a similar conclusion.

Chandhok said the one on board Hamilton looked ‘horrible’ because he had “no control” and “no trust.” Russell has commendably sorted out the W15’s numerous problems, while his seven-time world champion teammate has looked increasingly despondent.

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