George Russell has suggested there was something amiss with his Mercedes Formula 1 car during the Miami Grand Prix as he trailed home in a distant eighth place.
Russell out-qualified Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes locked out the fourth row in Miami, but the ex-Williams racer slipped two places behind his team-mate in the race.
Despite a mid-race Safety Car interruption resetting the gaps between cars, Russell was unable to mount a challenge to RB’s Yuki Tsunoda for seventh in the final laps.
“Something didn’t quite feel right with the car. I just had no grip, no pace,” Russell lamented.
“You know, I was slower than Yuki for the whole last stint. So I just need to go and see what was going on.”
Russell rued the inconsistent spikes emanating from Mercedes’ overhauled W15 charger that contributed to his bemusement at struggling for pace across the race.
“I don’t really know, to be honest. It’s just weeks of roundabouts for us at the moment,” he added.
“You know, on a good day with P5, on a bad day with P8. And today was a bad day and we finished P8.”
Mercedes introduced a minor floor upgrade last weekend and Russell has divulged that the marque will have more developments arriving during the coming rounds.
“There’s definitely direction and we do have a few things coming in the short term but nothing that’s going to transform us into race winners right now,” he disclosed.
Russell, who revealed that Mercedes had “overcompensated” for the problems it had last term, believes the team has to acknowledge where it is in the pecking order.
“I think we have to accept that we are the fourth-fastest team at the moment,” he said. “The lap times don’t lie, the championship doesn’t lie.
“This is where we are and as I said, I think we’re fighting for the P5 to P8 region week in, week out.”
Like Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, Russell has taken encouragement from Lando Norris and McLaren’s win as it transpired with a Mercedes engine in the back of the car.
Asked whether he took hope from McLaren’s turnaround, Russell replied: “Well, you know, McLaren qualified P17 and P18 12 months ago in Miami and today they won.
“So it shows what’s possible when you get things right. But right now we don’t have things right and we need to make changes quick.”
