George Russell anticipates a tough road ahead for Mercedes as the team faces a lack of significant upgrades for its troubled W15 in the near future. In Miami last weekend, the Brackley squad introduced an updated floor body on its car, but the alteration seemed to provide minimal advantage.
Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell failed to progress beyond Q2 of sprint qualifying, resulting in no points earned in the abbreviated race.
Despite both drivers making it to the final top-ten shootout during Saturday’s qualifying, they trailed eight-tenths behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen.
While the main race brought some relief, with Hamilton securing a sixth-place finish, Russell encountered a challenging afternoon, finishing in eighth place. This underscores Mercedes’ persistent struggles this season.
Russell believes that the team, once dominant in championships, is entering a “painful few weeks” due to its stagnant development progress.
Reflecting on last weekend’s event, Russell commented, “McLaren qualified P17 and P18 twelve months ago in Miami, and they won, so it shows what is possible when you get things right.
“But right now, we don’t have things right and need to make changes quickly. We do have a few things coming in the short-term but nothing in the short-term that is going to transform us into race winners.
“So it is going to be painful for a few weeks. I think we have to accept that we are the fourth fastest-team. The lap-times and the championship don’t lie, this is where we are and I think we’re fighting for the P5-P8 region week in, week out.”
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff offered a potentially brighter outlook on the team’s situation, affirming that its engineers possess a solid grasp of the core issues plaguing the W15. He emphasized that the development efforts to rectify these issues with new car components are progressing well.
“I think we understand much more what is needed to get the car in a better place because it’s so clear now what it does and why we struggle and where we struggle,” Wolff stated.
“In Formula 1 you can accelerate development and produce the beats and we’re flat out. The design office is all in. The production operations are flat out.
“The rest has been doing a good job. All of the factories are really sixth gear in order to bring stuff to the car that we believe can be very helpful.”
Wolff advised against hastening the design process, as doing so might compromise the effectiveness of the upgrades. The team’s foremost priority is to guarantee that the new components yield the anticipated performance enhancements.
“I think we know what we do,” remarked the Austrian. “In terms of what they’re bringing to the car, you can’t really rush it because you’ve got to get to the point where you say now it’s good to be released into production.
“And once that part comes, or once it’s come, they need to be sorted. So this is a matter of many weeks.”
