“Look after your tyres,” Mercedes explains their ‘do not race’ message to George Russell in Australia

“Look after your tyres,” Mercedes explains their ‘do not race’ message to George Russell in Australia

George Russell

During the Australian GP at the Albert Park in Melbourne, George Russell received a message on the radio which said, “do not race,” as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who finished P2 behind Charles Leclerc and ahead of Russell on P3, was blazing past through the Mercedes. This was perceived by many as a message to Russell to not compete with the Mexican. 

Now, Mercedes chief strategist, James Vowles, has cleared out the meaning behind it to clear out any speculation of Mercedes not wanting to race the Red Bull. He clarified the message was intended to suggest Russell prioritize his tires ahead of the position.

As quoted by GP Fans, James said, “The message to George was very simple: Look after your tyres, and if that costs us the position to Perez on track, we don’t want it with all our heart, but it’s the right thing to do.”

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He added, “Because ultimately, getting to the end of the race on tyres that we know will make it, that covers you off against safety cars and other circumstances is the right course of action, especially given what happened on the medium in stint one.”

Mercedes strategy with George Russell 

George Russell on the Australian GP Podium
Australian GP Podium

James Vowles said, “It’s not so much we asked George to let Perez go, we never want to give up a position but these tires, both the medium but also the hard tire, required a good amount of management, a good amount of looking after them to make sure they can make the end of the race without dropping off the curve, we saw that happen with Perez on stint one.”

He concluded by saying, “We had also expected that Perez with the pace he was doing and the amount he was pushing the tires, could well have a repeat of what happened in stint one, but ultimately that didn’t happen. He pulled away five seconds from George, actually, he overtook him fairly easily in the end and there was no race there for us to have.”

George received this message well and didn’t push his tires much. This allowed him to achieve the podium without any incident or struggle. He now stands second in the drives’ championship.

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