Russell delivers BRUTAL Mercedes verdict after Miami misery

Graham Shaw
Sunday 7 May 2023 10:57 - Updated: 19:48

Saturday was another tough day at the office for Mercedes and George Russell delivered a BRUTAL verdict on the struggling F1 giant's performance in qualifying at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix.

The British star qualified P6 for Sunday's big race in south Florida, but he believes even that provided a flattering assessment of where the much-maligned W14 currently sits in the pecking order.

READ MORE: F1 On TV: Meet the Sky Sports and Channel 4 Commentators

George Russell on Mercedes Miami misery

He said on French TV: "I'm not going to take much pride in qualifying in sixth place. We were one of the slowest cars to finish a lap in Q3. We were lucky.

"We are working to get more results, we need to be able to do better. We need to understand things better, it's a real challenge. I'm not happy at the moment."

While to the uninitiated Russell might appear to be on the fringes of the podium battle from his starting position for Sunday's race, he is under no such illusions.

He bemoaned: "No top three for me tomorrow, there is a big question mark over the degradation of the tyres, maybe we can benefit from it...

"The Red Bulls are far ahead, the Ferraris are constantly ahead of us. I have to sit down to understand this performance .... It's not easy."

While Russell was downbeat after qualifying in Miami, things were even worse for his Mercedes team-mate - seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. He failed to make it out of Q2, finishing only P13.

READ MORE: F1 Driver Salaries: How much do Hamilton, Verstappen and co earn?