Wolff urges Mercedes to solve tyre managment issues in hot conditions

With both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli having suffered from tyre overheating at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has urged his outfit to iron out the tyre management issues.

George Russell started from third on the grid after his brilliant last push lap in qualifying. While he looked comfortable on the medium tyres during the opening stint, he soon after started to suffer from higher levels of degradation.

The Briton elected to pit early, and while Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris rejoined the track behind Russell after their own pit stop, the Mercedes man lost out to both the Ferrari and McLaren driver to finish fifth in Jeddah.

His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli started from P5 on the grid, and looked strong in the early stages of the race. However, his pace faded as the race progressed, and he even clipped the wall at one point.

Although Ferrari’s seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton looked much stronger during the second stint, the Bologna-born managed to extract enough from his W16 to dissuade the Briton from chasing too hard behind.

Assessing his outfit's performance in Jeddah, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff claimed that the Brackley-based squad will need to iron out its issues in warm conditions.

"That was our worst performance of the year so far. The pace dropped away as our tyres overheated and that was frustrating. We came into the race hoping we could compete for the podium but, with the limitations we had with the tyres, P5 and P6 was the maximum for us.

"We need to analyse our performance, work out why that was the case, and quickly find improvements. The next race in Miami is another race on a hot track surface so we will need to be better than we were today if we want to avoid a repeat performance.

"Both drivers fought hard with the limitations they were facing. Even with greater management at different stages of the race, George was always going to be unable to stop Leclerc and Norris coming past.

"Kimi continued his development to take P6 and hold off Lewis (Hamilton). That has helped us limit the damage to our direct competitors in the Constructors’ Championship, but we don’t leave Saudi Arabia satisfied with that."

Echoing Wolff's words, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin claimed that the German-British team will need to "get on top of [its] tyre management issues."

"That was our toughest race of the year so far. Starting P3 and P5, we were hopeful of being in the fight for the podium. Ultimately though, our pace was limited by overheating on both the Medium and Hard compounds.

"Both drivers managed early on in each stint but, when required to push the tyre harder, both axles suffered, and we couldn't extract the pace of our competitors. George was powerless to hold off Leclerc and Norris in the closing stages, who used their fresher tyres to good effect.

"Kimi meanwhile did a good job to stave off Lewis (Hamilton) but P5 and P6 are not results we are ever going to be satisfied with. We know that managing the tyres is an area we need to improve in, and the factory is focused on doing that.

Shovlin continued: "Despite the tough evening, we have done well so far at collecting solid points over the first five races of the season. That is encouraging, but we need to build on that and do more.

"We have several hot races coming up and we need to get on top of our tyre management issues if we want to compete consistently at the front. We have the opportunity to do so starting in Miami in two weeks' time."