Will Mercedes resort to 'high-risk, high-reward' F1 towing tactics?

Will Mercedes resort to 'high-risk, high-reward' F1 towing tactics?

 

 

 
Russell ended Friday Practice fifth-fastest and 0.722s off the pace of Carlos Sainz’s benchmark time in FP2, while Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was seventh, a further tenth behind. Both Mercedes drivers were heard complaining about deployment issues on their cars during second practice. Lewis Hamilton VS Fernando Alonso – THE RIVALRY! | F1 2022Video of Lewis Hamilton VS Fernando Alonso – THE RIVALRY! | F1 2022“Deployment is a bit all over the place at the moment,” reported Russell. Russell’s race engineer Riccardo Musconi responded by telling him it was a problem affecting both W13s. Mercedes have been struggling to match the top speed of rivals Ferrari and Red Bull so far this weekend around the power-hungry Monza circuit. “It was a blip during the session, which made things worse,” Russell explained. “But generally speaking, we’re lacking a bit of deployment. “I think we’re similar to Red Bull, but Ferrari seem to have the upper hand. So that may make things tricky in a race scenario as they have a bit more of a locker to play with. It’s going to be something we’ll have to deal with.” Related Norris fires shots at Alpine: “They’ve done a pretty bad job” F1 Italian Grand Prix Practice results: Sainz sets pace in FP2 When asked if Mercedes could use Hamilton – who will drop towards the back of the grid after being hit with a penalty for using too many engine parts – to give Russell a tow, the young Briton downplayed the prospect. “If you nail it, it definitely does work,” said Russell. “But it’s a high-risk, high-reward really. So it’s not something we’re putting a lot of emphasis into. “Qualifying sessions are the time where we learn quite a lot about the car and the tyres, and that’s clearly been somewhere we’ve struggled this year. So for now we’ll both go in and do an ordinary session.” Seven-time world champion Hamilton said: “It’s George’s turn to choose whether to go first or second so most likely he’ll choose to go behind me, I’ll just do my normal programme and he’ll get a tow.” 

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