While we cannot see his rear tyres onboard, drone view comparison of the car immediately in front (Lawson) and Antonelli gives us quite the understanding.
FIA dictates regarding Track Limits:
-4th Violation = 5s time penalty
-5th Violation = additional 10s time penalty
As all 5 violations were before Antonelli's 2nd pitstop (Lap 38), Antonelli should have served a 15 seconds time penalty during said pitstop. He would have emerged P7, behind Verstappen.
𝐊𝐢𝐦𝐢 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝟓 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩
: the 5th infringement that the FIA official documents are still missing
[Lap 30] Antonelli leaves track at Turn 13 (1x speed & 0.25x speed)
He was on the Front Row for FP1, FP2, FP3, Q1, Q2, and Q3. Undoubtedly fastest all across Friday and Saturday.
On Sunday, his pace in the first stint was unmatched by any other. In just 10 laps, he pulled 3.7 seconds on Hamilton on Softs and 5.5 seconds on Antonelli on Mediums, even while managing his Medium tyres.
After he was summoned into an early pitstop, Russell had an under-balanced front wing issue that made him slower at apexes, with greater tyre deg esp. on the front left, compromising his pace in the 2nd stint. He radioed the pitwall and told them how much he wanted his front wing adjusted.
At his 2nd pitstop, Merc messed up and inaccurately adjusted his front wing, so Russell then had "very, very oversteery balance". Again, compromises his pace in multiple ways and very critical to tyre degs, especially the rears.
Despite this, he still maintains a 1-2 second gap to Antonelli for 14 laps, maintains a <1s gap to Antonelli for 3 laps, pulls away from him again even when Kimi has Overtake Mode, holds his position for 6 more laps before Kimi finally overtakes him on the main straight with Overtake Mode. That's a total of 23 laps ahead of his teammate in a well-balanced car, even with a massive oversteer.
If we take the race average, for sure Hamilton is on top. But if we look at Russell's pace while he was in a non-malfunctioning car (FP + Quali + 1st stint), he by far was the fastest.
Here's the video if you'd be interested in watching
https://t.co/PjIuJRoW9v
Is Russell Washed?: a case for George Russell's Race Pace throughout the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix 2026
*No copyright infringement intended.
*Feel free to repost on other platforms. Video and audio does get slightly off sync towards the end, apologies.
would anyone be interested if I made a video on George Russell's pace at the Barcelona GP?
I hope to clear the extreme misunderstanding around his speed, because he was the fastest of the weekend
Is Russell Washed?: a case for George Russell's Race Pace throughout the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix 2026
*No copyright infringement intended.
*Feel free to repost on other platforms. Video and audio does get slightly off sync towards the end, apologies.
Seeing this confirms: Russell really was the faster Mercedes almost all throughout, only at T12 did he lose time to AKA12 due to different racing lines. While Piastri's race engineer informed him how he was losing track position to Lando at T12, Dudley simply couldn't.
Who was fastest in every corner in Spain?
Starting with Turns 1/2, where Lewis Hamilton was 3kph quicker than anyone else ON AVERAGE. That was a theme.
A look through every corner 👇
@113Kyoodai16626 Funnily enough, I can count at least 2 more different instances not recorded on the FIA docs where AKA12 left the track. I'll see if I have the time today to put something together about this🤔
@MercedesAMGPCF1 George actually HAD asked the crew to make it steeper. But only by a 0.3, so he would lose the understeer and get neutral balance.
The crew made it steeper, alright, but by too much. They got him a massive oversteer instead.
Also, below is a Notion page that compiles all of the car/engineering/strategy/settings/andsomanymore problems George Russell has faced in the 2026 season.
Mercedes seems to be making a point of getting it updated every single week.
https://t.co/d6T5J436RH
@F1 In stint 2, Russell had an unbalanced front wing, and consequently, an Understeer.
In stint 3, Mercedes "inaccurately adjusted" that front wing, and got him massive Oversteer instead.
George still managed to stay ahead for 99% of the race, understeer or oversteer.
Is Russell Washed?: a case for George Russell's Race Pace throughout the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix 2026
*No copyright infringement intended.
*Feel free to repost on other platforms. Video and audio does get slightly off sync towards the end, apologies.
Is Russell Washed?: a case for George Russell's Race Pace throughout the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix 2026
*No copyright infringement intended.
*Feel free to repost on other platforms. Video and audio does get slightly off sync towards the end, apologies.
Is Russell Washed?: a case for George Russell's Race Pace throughout the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix 2026
*No copyright infringement intended.
*Feel free to repost on other platforms. Video and audio does get slightly off sync towards the end, apologies.
would anyone be interested if I made a video on George Russell's pace at the Barcelona GP?
I hope to clear the extreme misunderstanding around his speed, because he was the fastest of the weekend