F1 News
Russell pinpoints moment of bad realisation: 'It was literally straight'
- GPblog.com
It is a familiar story: Mercedes' dynasty has been over since last season. The Germans held on to the concept of the car, hoping to catch up with Red Bull this year. For Russell, what was the moment he knew the car had not improved? The Brit tells at the press conference, which GPblog attended.
George Russell thought he would switch from Williams to a championship car in 2022, but came back from a cold start. The German racing stable thought it would catch up with Red Bull, but soon found that the gap had only widened. "I think it was when we saw that the lap times weren't translating into what we expected," the Briton says. "It was literally straight after the very first test in Bahrain."
Russell could 'smell podium'
In Monaco, Mercedes presented major updates for the W14. For example, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell now have (new) sidepods, a different suspension and a new floor. "I think we've made a lot of changes since Bahrain test. We learned pretty quickly into the season that the car wasn't where we wanted it to be. So, this, as I said, should be the new baseline and we can build from here," stated the one-time race winner. The Briton even had a brief chance of a podium finish in Monaco:"We were effectively in P3 and then made a bit of a mistake on the out lap," sighs the Mercedes driver, who eventually finished on P5.