Russell Calls for Realism in Mercedes' F1 Strategy

George Russell stresses the need for Mercedes F1 to face reality as they lag behind competitors Red Bull and Ferrari, following a challenging race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

George Russell has warned Mercedes F1 that they still have a long way to go to be in the race with Red Bull and Ferrari.

Mercedes’ challenging 2024 campaign continued at the Chinese Grand Prix, with Russell finishing the race in sixth place, nearly 40 seconds behind the winner, Max Verstappen.

Russell’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, climbed to ninth place after starting from the back of the grid following a disastrous qualifying session.

“The fact is that Red Bull is still far ahead of everyone else, and I think it was only in the sprint race that we really saw their true potential, with Verstappen comfortably claiming a second per lap over everyone.”

“There should be no illusions. We have a lot of work to do to close this gap with them and to get into the fight with Ferrari and even McLaren.”

Russell’s Grand Prix got off to a good start as he overtook the two Ferrari drivers while they were battling in turn 1 on the first lap. However, the Mercedes driver was unable to maintain his position until the end, conceding that the team needed to go back to the drawing board to try to improve.

“The highlight was probably the first lap and getting ahead of the Ferraris. But I think sixth place is a fair result and a true representation of our team’s current situation. It was a good weekend with this sprint format, to be able to try different things between the two races.”

“The performances were very similar in both races. So we just need to go back to the factory, continue working on the basics, that is, putting more downforce on the car.”

And regarding Hamilton’s experiments, Russell was just as forthright as Toto Wolff…

“There are no quick fixes and we simply need to keep adding performance and focusing on the basics, that is, in the wind tunnel, in CFD, by simply adding more downforce. Sometimes it might be as simple as that and accepting that our F1 does not perform as well as others even with what would be perfect settings. Again, there should be no illusions.”