Mercedes used Bahrain GP as test session: 'Can be satisfied'

The Mercedes team seems to be taking on the role this season that Red Bull Racing had at the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era. Fighting along for podiums as the third team, but also often in no man's land where they are too fast for the midfield and too slow for the top teams.

This is also the view of George Russell, who drove his second Grand Prix for the German team in Bahrain. In the end, he crossed the line in fourth place and watched as Lewis Hamilton took third place on the podium all thanks to Red Bull's double failure.

Russell let it be known to MotorsportWeek that he was relieved to finish fourth, after driving around in sixth place for the entire race. "Before the race Toto and I had a little chat and he said, ‘look, this is a test session’. So I think we can be pleased to come home in P3 and P4 knowing that there’s a huge amount of performance there."

A podium finish in the first race is a good start to the season, but Russell is not yet expecting any quick miracles from his team in the first few races of this season. "But we got to be realistic and recognise we are a long way behind our rivals. We know there’s more to come, but they’re a real step ahead of us," Russell concluded.