George Russell fears there will be no substantial improvements for Mercedes any time soon
Russell joined Mercedes at the start of the season
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Mercedes driver George Russell says he isn’t expecting “substantial” improvements to be made on the team’s car “anytime soon”.
Toto Wolff’s team have been behind the pace all season and haven’t won a race yet. Lewis Hamilton managed a podium in Bahrain and Russell bagged his first top-three finish in a Mercedes at the Australian Grand Prix over the weekend but a drivers or constructors title may be out of reach this campaign.
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing substantial in the pipeline anytime soon,” Russell said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take a number of races.
“I think there’ll be little things, there’ll be incremental steps but we recognise that our rivals are going to be doing the same, so it may not be clear to the outside world that we’ve made progress because Ferrari and Red Bull are going to be making progress as well.”
So far Ferrari are on top with Charles Leclerc bagging two wins and reigning champion Max Verstappen winning a race. Mercedes and Hamilton’s hopes of a record eighth world title seem out of reach due to the stage they are at with the car.
Mercedes team prinicipal Wolff said the team are learning and they are making progress.
“I think we’re just learning the car, we’re learning the tyres,” he explained. “Nothing we did this weekend has unlocked the aerodynamic potential or has reduced the bouncing. We’re still at the same place.
“And that’s why it doesn’t make any sense to bring updates, because you’re confusing yourself even more. Maybe it’s the fact the more downforce you bring, the worse the bouncing gets. So we are still learning.”
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