George Russell was forced to abort his test session when his car stalled on track on the second day of 2023 F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain. Mercedes has confirmed that the Briton’s car had a hydraulic problem that caused the stoppage.
Confirming the problem with the car, the team statement read:
“Confirmed, hydraulic failure caused George’s arrest. It is very unlikely that the car will go out again today.
Difficult day. Let’s make tomorrow better. 👊 https://t.co/NeahyJ7bMB
George Russell was unable to complete more than 26 laps in his test session, but the more worrying concern is whether the Mercedes engine has a reliability issue. The day before, another Mercedes-powered car that brought out the red flags was Felipe Drugovich’s Aston Martin, which was stopped due to an electronic problem. After the Briton stopped, the problem with his car was investigated, but George was unable to continue the session.
George Russell believes Mercedes had a productive day of testing despite his arrest
George Russell feels that Mercedes has not yet unlocked the potential of the W14. Despite their short test session, the Brit believes they have collected important data. His teammate Lewis Hamilton was able to log 72 laps in the morning session and saw a smooth and uninterrupted session. According to Mercedes, the team is still trying to figure out the overall balance of their car.
Commenting on his second day of pre-season testing, the Briton said:
“Unfortunately, we had a hydraulic problem this afternoon that made it hard for us to race. Although we didn’t complete our full program, we did discover some interesting things in the data throughout the day. That is positive and we will analyze it overnight with the aim of finding the lap time. We haven’t unlocked everything on the W14 yet, and everyone is working hard to do so and maximize our final day of testing tomorrow.”
We have confirmed that it was a hydraulic failure that caused George’s car to stop on the track. That’s probably the end of our run for today. We’re back on track tomorrow. 💪 https://t.co/JdSKLzaUGR
While the W14 is an evolved and improved version of the W13, it still features the “zero side pod” design. With limited pre-season testing, losing 90 minutes of track time is a waste of valuable time that could have been used to understand the car.
It remains to be seen how the team will tackle the hydraulic problem faced by George Russell during the session. Since there is a race weekend immediately after the test, issues that need a factory fix become more difficult to address, while issues that can be fixed on the track are easier to deal with. This is a dilemma that every team in the sport faces.