“It has been a bruising weekend for us”: Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s double DNF in Australia leaves Mercedes worried

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin voiced the team's concern after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell retired from the 2024 F1 Australian GP.

Lewis Hamilton retired from the race after his engine stopped working on lap 17, while George Russell lost control of his car and crashed right before the end of the race.

After the qualifying session, Andrew Shovlin addressed how damaging the race weekend was for the team. He stated that Mercedes was unable to compete in both single-lap and race pace. Nonetheless, he assured that the team would be looking into the data to find and rectify any issues that ruined their race.

"It has been a bruising weekend for us, during which we were unable to compete on a single lap or the long runs, and we will be continuing to trawl through the data in the coming days, to see what isn’t working and why we are only currently able to deliver flashes of performance from the car. It’s clear that we have much to work on, to give both drivers a better tool to work with at the race weekends."

Mercedes's senior concluded that the team needs to keep working and deliver a strong performance at the 2024 F1 Japanese GP which takes place two weeks after the Australian GP.

"We now need to get our heads down, work through the challenges one by one, and aim to deliver a stronger showing next time in Suzuka."

Since the beginning of the Australian GP, both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled in practice and qualifying sessions. Russell qualified in P7, while Hamilton was down in P11. The seven-time world champion had a particularly poor weekend as he was consistently behind his teammate in most sessions.

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Lewis Hamilton surprisingly upbeat despite retiring from the 2024 F1 Australian GP

Despite having the worst start to an F1 season after retiring from the 2024 F1 Australian GP, Lewis Hamilton claimed that he feels surprisingly upbeat. Keeping a positive perspective, he said that he enjoyed being in Australia and working with Mercedes to improve their performance.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:

"Surprisingly I feel pretty good. I'm trying to keep things in perspective. It could be so much worse. I really enjoyed my time in Australia and I'm still enjoying working with the team. Of course, I would love to be fighting for wins and actually finishing races. It's never great to end a race this way. But what I know is we will bounce back and eventually get there, we just have to continue to push."

After retiring from the race at Albert Park, Lewis Hamilton stands tenth in the drivers' championship, while George Russell is in seventh place.