Russell: ‘Excitement’ not frustration at Mercedes

Jamie Woodhouse
George Russell watches the Mercedes screen. Australia, April 2022.

George Russell watches the screen in the Mercedes garage. Australia, April 2022.

Despite their slow start to 2022, George Russell says Mercedes know there is a solution – so they are excited rather than frustrated.

Mercedes finished Formula 1’s previous era atop the pile, having won the Constructors’ Championship for the eighth season in succession, but the new regulations have put that streak very much in danger.

Red Bull came out of the blocks still fighting at the top but Mercedes’ place has been taken by Ferrari, leaving Mercedes narrowly ahead of the midfield but unable to keep up with the leading duo.

It would be understandable then if the morale within the Mercedes team was starting to suffer, but Russell explained that has not been the case.

The team very much believe there is performance to extract in the W13, and they know what they need to do to get it.

Russell said that with this goal to aim for, there is a hunger in the Mercedes camp to find the key and unlock the W13’s true potential.

George Russell drives the Mercedes W13. Australia, April 2022.
George Russell, Mercedes, drives the W13 at Albert Park. Australia, April 2022.

Asked if frustration was starting to set in at Mercedes, Russell replied, as quoted by the Formula 1 website: “More optimism and excitement, to be honest, because we believe there is a solution and we believe there’s a lot of lap time on the table once we optimise that.

“So we are not scratching our heads [in] not understanding why we are off the pace.

“We absolutely know why we are off the pace and we know what we need to work on to improve that, and having that knowledge, that understanding of what the issues are, and having the belief that we can solve it is quite an exciting place to be, because it gives us all something to go at.”

Of course, Russell says Mercedes are fully aware their rivals will not stand still either when it comes to development.

So in the meantime, Mercedes must play the long game, starting with the Australian Grand Prix where they hope to remain the third fastest team behind Ferrari and Red Bull.

 

“We appreciate our rivals will be continuously improving,” Russell continued.

“And even if we improve, there’s no reason why they won’t be improving as well. So it will take time, for sure.

“There’s [no upgrade this weekend] that will really put us in the fight with those guys.

“We’ve just got to make sure we maximise our result which is, as a team, being the third fastest team, making sure none of the midfield cars sneak in between us and just gathering those points while we can. And this will be the case for a number of races to come.”

 

Russell: Porpoising solution to bring 'huge chunk of lap time'

Mercedes driver George Russell believes that if the team can find a fix for their porpoising issues, they will be able to recover a "big chunk of lap time".