It was a "difficult and frustrating afternoon" for Mercedes, claims Lord
Mercedes team representative Bradley Lord, who took over team boss Toto Wolff's responsibility in Mexico, admitted that it was "a difficult and frustrating afternoon" for the Silver Arrows at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Although Mercedes had hope for more, the 71-lap encounter in Mexico became a a tricky race to manage for them.
Russell lost position at the start in the chaos at Turn 1 before dropping further behind when Max Verstappen banged wheels with Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton asked Mercedes to apply team order which the Silver Arrows agreed to, but Russell was not able to capitalize on that and had to give the position back to his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the closing stages of the race.
The Bologna-born driver made no mistake but complained about tyre degradation in the dirty air, finishing sixth, just a place ahead of Russell.
Mercedes team representative Bradley Lord, who took over team boss Toto Wolff's responsibility in Mexico, admitted that it was "a difficult and frustrating afternoon" for the Silver Arrows at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
"That was a difficult and frustrating afternoon for us, racing amongst a group of cars that were within one tenth of a second on pure pace and defending from Piastri’s faster McLaren behind.
"The opening laps did not go our way; George was one of the only drivers in the top five to stay between the white lines, and lost out as a result, then was hung out to dry on lap six and lost two more positions. He felt rightly aggrieved at the outcome, as this ultimately shaped the outcome of his race.
Speaking of the team order, Lord said: "Kimi profited where George lost out and was managing his tyres to a planned one-stop strategy behind Bearman when George and Piastri closed to within DRS range.
"After several laps, we decided to invert the cars to give George an opportunity to attack the Haas, as he felt he had pace in hand, but he was unable to make inroads because the tyres were past their best after the laps in the dirty air.
"With higher-than-expected degradation, the strategy was finely balanced between one and two stops, and we triggered the two-stop with Kimi on lap 47 - boxing with Piastri and Hamilton close behind.
"Unfortunately, a slow stop cost Kimi a place, and once it became clear that our cars were not able to gain any more positions, we restored the running order from earlier in the race to come home P6 and P7. It was an afternoon of damage limitation, ultimately, and our championship fight remains nail-bitingly close. Onwards to Brazil," concluded Lord.
