The Mercedes team continues to suffer in the third round of the season at the Australian Grand Prix, as they are unable to solve the problems that have caused a huge loss of performance compared to previous campaigns in Formula 1.
The German team did not pass 7th position in the first free practice session in Melbourne, but was more than 1.2 seconds behind the best time for Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, while in Free Practice 2, George Russell was the arrow fastest silver, although he had to settle for 11th place.
After a tough day at the Brackley complex , the young British driver expressed his concern at not being able to achieve the goal they set for themselves at the start of the year, which was none other than to retain the constructors’ title and regain the drivers’ title.
“We’re not in the position we want to be in, there are quite a few mid-range cars ahead of us and obviously way off the pace at the top,” Russell said after getting off the W13.
“We have to work a lot on the car tonight, understand the limitations,” said the 24-year-old Englishman. “The car felt good, it was a bit strange with the soft tyre, I kept improving little by little, some drivers did it, but it seemed a bit more exaggerated on our part”.
Russell is ahead of his teammate in the world championship thanks to the fourth and fifth position he achieved in the first two rounds, but he remains concerned about the star’s car: “We have quite a bad porpoising, in turn 9 it seems the most serious that I’ve experienced, but I think it’s something we just have to deal with for the time being.”
“We think it’s the fastest way to go on this track, but maybe it’s not,” he continued. “We have to keep looking at the data and understand that we’ve gone back and forth with the setup and it’s all been similar, so we have to try and get to know that and understand why.”
Mercedes tackles the revamped Melbourne track and, while Russell is happy to drive the W13, he’s not satisfied with the performance: “Driving is always great, and doing it on a circuit like this too, but you enjoy it more when you get into the car and you see your name at the top of the time table.
“When you think you have a good lap, you look at the sheet and you see that you are 11th, it is not where we want to be as a team, so it is all about results,” said the English driver.
