George Russell confirms MAJOR Mercedes upgrades for Azerbaijan GP

Russell in Australia — Photo: © LAT Images

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Russell confirms MAJOR Mercedes upgrades for Azerbaijan GP

George Russell has confirmed that Mercedes are finding major improvements ahead of Baku

Harry Smith

Saturday 22 April 2023 17:57 Updated: 18:08

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George Russell has offered Mercedes fans some reasons for optimism ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after confirming some major upgrades to the W14.

The 25-year-old endured a disappointing weekend in Melbourne at the start of the month, first losing the lead of the Australian Grand Prix following an unfortunately-timed red flag before an engine issue forced him to retire.

But Russell is looking forward to the upcoming Grand Prix in Azerbaijan after confirming that Mercedes have made a notable leap forward in performance during the spring break.

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Mercedes have been battling Aston Martin and Ferrari on track this season with Red Bull looking untouchable at the front of the field, but these upgrades could see the gap at the top close.

Mercedes move forwards

“I mean, I don’t read what’s been said in the news all the time, but you know, we’re here to win, we’re here to fight for victories and for the championship, and clearly we’re not in a position to do that at the moment,” Russell said in an interview with Formula1.com.

"But big changes are incoming... Naturally, you can’t get things brought that quickly to the car, but I think in due course, we’ll see some big changes and hopefully the lap times represent that."

Russell also confirmed that he had tested out the upgrades on the Mercedes simulator.

George Russell was forced to retire in Australia due to a power unit issue

“Yeah, I mean, we’re working really hard at the moment with these changes. I won’t give too much away, and we need to make sure they work as expected.

“But as we’ve said a number of times, we’re probably finding more gains in the past two or three weeks than we found over the whole winter by clearly developing in the wrong window – so it’s definitely heading in the right direction.”