Mercedes’ George Russell believes that the team need “time to find solutions” after battling to fifth place at 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
With Red Bull and Ferrari currently setting the early-season pace as Max Verstappen won in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Russell drove a quiet race to finish fifth after passing Alpine’s Esteban Ocon on Lap Three.
Russell though wasn’t overall happy with Mercedes’ uncharacteristic performance as he commented: “It was a strong race in terms of maximising our potential points today, the car felt good but we’re just lacking downforce because we can’t get the car to run close to the ground.”
The 24 year-old Brit also felt that he managed to get his Mercedes “in a nice window” as he tried pushing as hard as he possibly could, although he admitted that he just wants to in future “… to be doing it fighting for victory.”
On Mercedes’ current issues, Russell urged patience as they try to resolve their problems as he said: “Everybody is working as hard as they can to close the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari, every single person at Brackley and Brixworth wants more and we’ll continue to push until we close that gap.
“This first part of the season isn’t packed with races, the calendar isn’t too dense, so it gives us some time to find solutions. We aren’t here to fight for P5 but you’ve got to take the positives.”
Lewis Hamilton meanwhile recovered from 15th place on the grid to snatch the final point in tenth, as he broke the record for most Grand Prix starts for a single team in what was his 180th start for Mercedes.
Speaking post-race about his difficult weekend which included a Q1 exit in Qualifying, Hamilton simply commented: “Balance-wise, the car felt good, but just not fast enough.”
Hamilton ran as high as sixth on the alternate strategy of hard to medium tyres but a late Virtual Safety Car during which the pit entry was closed for safety reasons caused a costly delayed pit stop, which dropped him to 12th before recovering to 10th at the checkered flag.
Reflecting on that particular stage of the race, Hamilton added: “We were unlucky with how the VSC played out at the end but I was giving it everything. Yesterday made the weekend so much harder and I take that on my shoulders.
“It’s gutting but we need to keep fighting, it’s all we can do – I know I’ve got a great team and we’ll just keep our heads down.”
Mercedes Are ‘under no illusions’ On Pace Issues
Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin post-race insisted that the team are aware of their pace issues as F1 takes a fortnight break ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, which returns after a two-season absence.
Explaining that fans shouldn’t discount Mercedes in this season’s fight despite Russell sitting 23 points behind championship leader – Leclerc, Shovlin commented: “The circuit here has been more difficult for us than Bahrain and we’re under no illusions where we stand at the moment but we need to remain focused and effective.
“We have an enormous challenge ahead of us, but over the last eight years the team has been able to get on top of every performance issue that we have faced. We’ve been able to do that because we have so many talented and dedicated people in the team both in Brackley and Brixworth.
“We certainly have our work cut out over the next weeks and months but we are more determined than ever to get ourselves back fighting at the front.”
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