Mercedes tech boss James Allison has dismissed as "unfair" claims that Mercedes are favoring George Russell over Lewis Hamilton amid the latter’s poor qualifying performances.
Hamilton has had a challenging season so far year-to-date, with the Briton achieving his best result so in Montreal, last time out, where he finished fourth.
But it’s the seven-time world champion’s track record in qualifying that has captured the attention of pundits and fans alike, as Hamilton – the greatest qualifying in F1 history with 104 pole positions – now trails Russell by a significant margin (8-1) in the head-to-head battle on Saturdays.
This unexpected disparity has fueled speculation that Mercedes might be subtly favoring Russell, particularly in light of Hamilton's upcoming move to Ferrari in 2025.
After a particularly tough qualifying session in Monaco, Hamilton made some intriguing statements, suggesting he “wouldn't be able” to beat Russell over a single lap. However, he seemed to take more responsibility for his qualifying struggles in Canada.
Addressing the contrast in qualifying performances, Allison rubbished the outlandish idea that one driver is being favored by the Brackley squad.
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“I think that if you try and read into that stuff that isn’t there, like somehow he’s got a systematic disadvantage on qualifying day, that’s not true and not fair,” Allison explained, speaking on F1’s latest Beyond the Grid podcast.
“So far as we can make it, the cars are identical. The engine use is identical. If the cars are different on setup, it’s because that’s what the driving engineering team on either side of the garage have iterated to.
“But they have the chance to have identical stuff if they chose. On one occasion this year and famously in Monaco, they had a different front wing on the car because we only had one available and we took the decision that we would get that wing on the car as soon as we could, and it had to go to one or the other.
“We had the conversation and Lewis said ‘no, I’ll let George have it’.”
Allison’s comments underscore Mercedes' commitment to treating both drivers equally, aiming to dispel any notions of favoritism within the team.
Furthermore, the Briton believes that “fine margins” are partly to blame for the current disparity that exists between Russell and Hamilton on Saturdays, along with a technical consideration linked to this year’s tyres.
“I wouldn’t have predicted 8-1,” Allison added. “And I think that for a chunk of the year, the car has been a pretty troubled beast.
It’s become a much, much better car in the last two or three races and, with that, I think the judgments about who may or may not put it in front of the other car become more meaningful, because the car is less of a random number generator.
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“Lewis has, not by accident, been the best qualifier in the history of the sport, because I think he’s been the best driver in the sport, but he’s struggling to make it stick this year by fine margins, as you say.
“I think, to a degree, I was speculating this in an email I sent to the factory yesterday that the current car-tyre combo, not just us, across the pit lane, it doesn’t like being hustled, you almost get the best lap times when you’re not trying.
“And you see every weekend, you’ll see someone pop a lap time in free practice or in qualifying, in some session or other, you’ll see some car and you think, ‘how did that get there?’
“And then they don’t do it again, it sort of disappears in the mist straight after. I think in qualifying it’s quite hard, where you’re all pumped up and you’re wanting to get the best from it, to do a lap that is sort of relaxed enough to get the best out of the car.”
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