"Lost 10 seconds in the pit lane"- George Russell blames Mercedes' poor pit-stop strategy for loss of positions at 2022 F1 Japanese GP

George Russell criticized Mercedes' strategy during the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, which saw him finish ninth. This was the team and the Briton's second disappointing performance in a row.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, George Russell was of the opinion that he should've pitted a lap later to avoid double stacking. He claimed:

“I need to look back and review it. I knew that everybody would be pitting, and we’d lose a whole load of time by stacking, because everybody was line astern. I think I could have done one more lap. I don’t know where Fernando exited the pits, but I was right behind him, I was quicker than him, and I would have pitted the same lap as Fernando. But yeah, I probably lost 10 seconds in the pit lane.”

Russell, however, managed to climb up the order, attempting some daring overtakes. He was in P9 soon enough, but did not find tire management easy:

"That was the silver lining, that was enjoyable and fun. But it was truly a race of tyre management. It was probably the most amount of tyre management I’ve ever done in a F1 race, considering it being wet, it’s pretty surprising. It capped off two bad races for us for various reasons. Yeah, we need to review and see what happened."

George Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton finished P5 after struggling to overtake Esteban Ocon for the better part of the race. Notably, Mercedes' lack of straight line speed was possibly the most evident on the Suzuka track in 2022.

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George Russell blamed a draggy car and the long straights at Suzuka for poor performance

George Russell was of the opinion that the Suzuka track had exposed Mercedes' biggest weakness this season. After a dull qualifying result for both him and Hamilton, the driver did not hold back his words.

Speaking to the media in a post-quali interview, the driver explained the magnanimous gap between the Silver Arrows and the leaders:

"We've known this year we've not had the most efficient car, very draggy, and this is the first high downforce circuit where you have long straights as well. Normally when you look at high downforce circuits, the straights are relatively small and there's not that chance to get those straight-line deltas as well. I think we're probably losing seven or eight-tenths to Red Bull in the straights today, and the circuit has exposed that weakness of ours."

Russell potentially had a chance of a P2 finish this year in the standings. However, post his pointless run in Singapore and a disappointing Suzuka week, he is 46 points off second-placed Sergio Perez.