> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What Mercedes said about race-losing driver spins - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-trying-to-understand-strange-behaviour-amid-driver-spins/ - Published: 2026-11-08T23:32:25.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-09T00:17:06.000Z - Description: Mercedes is trying to understand why both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were reporting “strange" car behaviour in Brazil - Author: Josh Suttill - Tags: Formula 1, #mercedes, #george-russell, #kimi-antonelli, #brazilian-grand-prix, #secondary_feature_3 Mercedes is trying to understand why both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were reporting “strange behaviour” in its first podium-less grand prix of 2026 in Brazil. The team sealed the constructors’ championship with three rounds to spare, but there's a strong feeling within Mercedes that a victory was lost in Brazil. Russell spun when he was exiting the pitlane on soft tyres, while Antonelli spun out of the lead while being hounded by Lando Norris shortly afterwards. He recovered initially to second place, but he then quickly fell behind both Red Bull drivers. Russell and Antonelli ultimately finished fourth and fifth, with world champion Antonelli “very disappointed \[with\] the race. “I’m very angry, to be fair…very disappointing, because we were on for the win up to that point. “Also on the slick, once I was able to get some temperature, I was getting into the rhythm. But the spin came, which is still something I need to look at, because I don’t know why I lost the rear so quickly as well. “Like, no warning, nothing. But already, to be fair, when I put the soft on, I felt something weird with the car, so we need to check what happened. Shame, because we lost the race there.” Russell said he was “not really too sure what happened” with his pitlane spin as he “went quite high risk because I smelt an opportunity and paid the price”. “It's in those moments where you either gain a lot or you lose a lot. This time it went against us. Ironically, because of that, I didn't pit \[for a second set of softs like most drivers\] and brought myself back into the race. “I showed a really strong pace on the soft. I'd say on the soft tyre, we had the fastest race pace. And it's been quite a while since I've had the fastest race pace, so I would take the positives of that.” Mercedes’ pace on the soft tyres was strong, but both Russell and Antonelli struggled on the intermediate tyres in the final stint. “We don't know,” Russell said when asked by The Race what went wrong. “We really don't know. I was quite excited when the rain was coming, but then Kimi and I had absolutely no pace. We need to understand why that was. “Maybe it's a small theory because we were the first ones onto the inters, even just on that outlap on the driest track, you damage the tyres and the temps go up and you're in this negative spiral. As of now, that's the only explanation.” Russell also said he’s “felt much more like myself here” and the data from his first Antonelli-beating race performance since Baku, supports that, with a narrow 52-48% split of who is faster each lap in favour of Antonelli. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/11/data-src-image-37c6241c-16a5-44b8-a09d-5faca5fd6ba3.png) ### Searching for answers Mercedes is relieved to have won its first constructors’ title in five years - and it certainly fared better than closest rival Ferrari in Brazil - but it will want to understand exactly what caused its Brazil drop-off, with even colder conditions expected for Las Vegas. “I think both have been given a very tricky car at times,” team boss Toto Wolff said after the race. “George is not someone who spins in the pitlane on the exit, and Kimi the same. And both reported a very, very strange behaviour of the car, like something's broken in the suspension or too much pressure in the tyres. “Whilst it was not only them, Max \[Verstappen\] said the same thing, \[but\] I believe that we've gotten something wrong on pressures or on the set-up, because also now looking at the cars, the rear tyres are completely worn, the fronts are like new. “So there's something which we haven't spotted. But there were times in the race where we were absolutely flying. “So we are walking away with an interesting exercise to find out what it was, but with a positive mindset after winning the constructors’ championship.” As trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin put it: “P4 and P5 isn’t quite the way we would have wanted to secure the championship, but we did what we needed to do and there were encouraging signs in the underlying performance”.