Formula 1 Racing

‘I wanted an old engine’ · RaceFans

George Russell, Mercedes, Las Vegas Strip Circuit, 2024

Las Vegas Grand Prix winner George Russell was so convinced Mercedes would not be competitive this weekend he considered asking to use an old engine.

However Mercedes discovered their car performed well on the high-speed, low-grip track. They headed every practice session in Las Vegas, while Russell took pole position scored Mercedes’ first win for nine rounds.

Russell said that before the weekend began he thought the next race at Losail International Circuit represented their best chance to win.

“Going into this [trio of races] I had my sights set on Qatar, even to the point that I wanted to take my freshest engine out and put an old engine in for Vegas, to save my best engine for Qatar. And I’m kind of glad we didn’t do that now.”

He admitted “it’s been a real surprise seeing how strong our pace has been” around the six-kilometre street track. “Securing the pole yesterday I was so pleased with.

“Then I think we won the race in stint one. To be honest, stint one was exceptional. I knew from there on in the only way we would probably lose the victory is if I grained the tyres and opened them up. So it was just a case of managing my pace, managing in the right corners and bringing it home.”

Russell finished seven seconds ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, who climbed from 10th on the grid to complete a one-two for the team. He said the street track’s relatively smooth surface had suited their car more than expected.

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“It’s no secret that we struggle on the bumpy circuits and we have to lift the car[‘s ride height] quite a lot,” Russell explained. “We’ve got to make it much softer.

“Then we’re in a downforce window where we don’t have any. It’s not that we just suddenly forget how to set the car up, it’s just certain circuits require us to put the car in a window it doesn’t like to be.

“On tracks like this where it’s relatively smooth, we can get the car quite low, quite stiff, with little or no bumps around the track, we fly.”

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