“Red Bull are over a second faster,” George Russell has very low expectations for Mercedes in 2023
George Russell discussed where Mercedes' developments stand right now for the rest of the 2023 season.
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Last year, during this time, Mercedes were locked in the third position in the World Championship, to the great disappointment of everyone from the Brackley outfit. The German team, which has held a record of consecutively winning eight Constructors’ Championship not too many years ago, seems to get nothing right despite their Team Principal Toto Wolff‘s promises to get back to their winning ways. And now, their own recruit George Russell has let out the quite apparent fact that their developments were too ambitious for this year, and they are still “over a second” behind Red Bull, the star team of the grid right now.
While Mercedes has maintained the same position as the one they had last year with three Grands Prix down the line, it is hardly because of their own merit. They are still in the P3 position because Ferrari have performed abysmally at Bahrain, Jeddah, and in Australia. Thus, the situation currently stands that Red Bull is leading the charts with 123 points, followed by a surprise rise by Aston Martin, who have garnered 65 points of their own. And then come Mercedes, who have 56, with only one podium win, thanks to Lewis Hamilton‘s drive at Albert Park.
But Mercedes’ W14 was meant to make splashes in the news from the very first race of the season. That did not happen, and George Russell knows exactly how to explain the shortcomings his team has faced until now. He said, “It caught us by surprise to see the lack of performance when we hit the track in Bahrain. We are making improvements and that should translate into lap time.”
George Russell gives fans a much-needed update into what is going on at the Mercedes garage
George Russell only came into Mercedes after spending some time at Williams in 2022. His entry has not been smooth even though he has shown supreme talent in the Silver Arrow car. He was Mercedes’ only race winner last year, as he left Lewis Hamilton behind and outscored him in his debut season with the team. Now, he is explaining what they are doing to improve their performance in the upcoming races.
George Russell said, “It caught us by surprise to see the lack of performance when we hit the track in Bahrain and that’s why we were quick to change our approach. I think already on the Saturday night of the Bahrain Grand Prix, we were trying different things, going in a different direction with the development because we recognised we’d maybe gone too far. We are making improvements and that should translate into lap time. But we recognise that Red Bull are over a second down the road at the moment.“
The paddocks are now empty as the F1 world is enjoying a brief break between the races right now. The next Grand Prix is slated to happen in Azerbaijan, where the Mercedes duo will hopefully get two podium finishes for the both of them. But they will have to rise against some formidable rivals from Red Bull and Aston Martin to make sure that happens.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)