Major Mercedes W15 concept admission delivered by George Russell

Sam Cooper 05 Jan 2024 10:45 AM

George Russell is heading into his third year with Mercedes.

George Russell is hoping Mercedes will not fall into the same mistakes as they prepare to unveil their 2024 challenger.

The upcoming season represents a do or die moment for Mercedes with two years of disappointment behind them.

The need to return to the front of the grid is paramount if the Silver Arrows are to continue being considered a top team and Russell believes the extra time they have had to prepare will serve them well.

George Russell optimistic about W15 performances chances

Russell had an underwhelming year in 2023 as the stop start nature of his performances saw him finish well below team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

But the 25-year-old is optimistic for what is to come and believes the added time Mercedes have had to focus on the W15 will bring them performance.

“[I am] more confident going into this break,” he said before the 2023 season ended, according to Autosport. “[We have been] working on the new concept for a long time and there’s been so much due diligence gone into that concept.

“Whereas I think last year it was all a little bit rushed. We didn’t have all the information to hand, we may have jumped to a couple of conclusions without thoroughly going through the consequences.

“And we learned when the car hit the ground this year that we made a step forward in some regards, but it came with a lot of baggage and we hadn’t taken that into consideration.

“So, I think we’ve done a great job to truly understand what we need.

“We’ve obviously had a further 12 months’ experience to further understand the car and what brings the performance.

“I think last year we put all our eggs in one basket and that wasn’t a basket that provided the performance we were expecting.”

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But despite this optimism, Russell was aware of the challenge facing them and attempting to topple “the most dominant car ever.”

“The fact is we’ve got to close a huge gap. The Red Bull dominance this year is probably the greatest – I think statistically it is the most dominant car ever – so we’ve all got a huge task on our hands,” Russell admitted.

“But I’m going into next year with an open mind.

“I don’t think anyone’s expecting either us, McLaren, Aston Martin or Ferrari to make that step straightaway.

“But definitely confident we won’t fall into some of the same traps we did this year.”