George Russell backs Mercedes to ‘overtake’ Red Bull and Ferrari despite sluggish start

Mercedes have struggled for pace in the opening two races

George Russell of Great Britain and Mercedes looks on (Getty Images)

George Russell believes Mercedes could “overtake” Ferrari and Red Bull during the course of the F1 season, but has warned there will be no quick fix for his team’s early struggles.

Mercedes have struggled for pace in the opening two races, although they find themselves second in the constructors’ championship one point ahead of Red Bull, who suffered a double retirement in the opening race in Bahrain.

Russell and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton are currently fourth and fifth in the drivers’ standings, more than 20 points off the early pace set by Charles Leclerc.

“We need to be in almost damage limitation mode at the moment, pick up the pieces, when there’s an opportunity, don’t throw away unnecessary points, even though it may just be for fifth or sixth or hopefully, a bit higher, and make sure we were within touching distance always,” explained Russell.

“Then, hopefully, when the car does improve, we can come back fighting. It’s a very long season, I think we’ve all got confidence that if we do things right, there’s no reason why we can’t close the gap and potentially overtake [the top two teams].

“But we equally appreciate and recognise that Ferrari and Red Bull will continuously improve as well. So, we could close up by six-tenths [but] there’s no reason why they can’t extend by another six-tenths as well.”

F1 gets back under way this weekend in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix.