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Dakar Rally: Mercedes Duo Struggle with Pace at Dutch Grand Prix
Zandvoort, [Current Date] – The Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, endured a challenging day at the Dutch Grand Prix, with Russell finishing seventh and Hamilton finishing eighth, leaving the team scratching their heads.
Russell, who had qualified fourth on the grid, was perplexed by the team’s lack of pace during the race. “We just had no pace,” the British driver lamented. “I was just dropping like a stone – especially quite surprised versus Ferrari. We were expecting to be comfortably ahead of them, and Charles [Leclerc] was quicker, Carlos [Sainz] was catching me. Clearly, we got something wrong with the tyres.”
The 26-year-old had been hoping for a podium finish, but he found himself struggling to keep up with the pace of the McLarens, with Lando Norris in particular leaving a strong impression. “After the first couple of laps I thought we were on course for a podium here, I knew the overtaking was going to be difficult. I was really shocked at how fast McLaren was. Lando [Norris] just looked so comfortable out there, super impressive to see, but we’ve had six really strong races and then suddenly we’ve finished almost a minute behind the win, so you don’t lose all of that performance overnight.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s hopes of a podium finish were dashed by a three-place grid penalty imposed for blocking Sergio Perez in qualifying. The seven-time world champion believes that the penalty prevented him from a shot at a top-three finish. “If I didn’t have the problem in qualifying then yes. I think I had the pace today to be in the top five – if I started fourth for example I would’ve finished at least fourth,” Hamilton commented.
The Dakar Rally team at Mercedes will be working hard to understand the performance issues that plagued their cars at the Dutch Grand Prix, as they look to bounce back at the next round of the Formula 1 championship.
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