Russell warns Red Bull and Ferrari advantage to 'grow' in race trim
Russell warns Red Bull and Ferrari advantage to 'grow' in race trim
George Russell has warned the delta to Red Bull and Ferrari could "diverge" further across Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Mercedes has so far endured a tough opening weekend of the F1 season, with Lewis Hamilton qualifying fifth and Russell ninth, with the team staring at a gap of seven-tenths of a second from the seven-time champion to polesitter Charles Leclerc.
With Silver Arrows suffering from porpoising more than the other front-runners, asked if this could result in increased tyre wear in the race, Russell said: "I don't think there's any direct correlation between porpoising and higher degradation.
"Naturally, the teams that are bouncing more cannot run the cars as close to the ground as they would like and they are missing out on performance so we don't expect to be able to close the gap on Sunday to our competitors.
"We would absolutely love to be able to but I think that just isn't really the case and, if anything, you might see the delta diverge.
"We're doing absolutely everything we can at the moment to solve these issues. We've made some progress but we are a long way from where we need to be and where we know the potential of this car is at."
Mercedes "not where we want to be"
Russell's best qualifying time saw him finish 1.658s off the pace after making an error on his final lap of the session, leaving him behind the likes of Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
"Obviously, P9 is much lower down than where the car is but we’re doing everything we can to try and get the car back to the front and fight the Ferraris and Red Bulls," added Russell.
"I feel like we’re going one step forward then two steps back. We feel like we’re making progress but then suddenly we’re back into the same issues that we faced.
"It’s difficult because we’re so focused on solving the overarching issue of the car, it’s difficult to nail down all the details and fine-tune the thing.
"This is what it’s about at the moment, we know we want to be fighting for victories and we need to try everything we can to get there."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1's quirkiest star begins selling ICE CREAM in latest venture
- 53 minutes ago
F1 colleagues UNFOLLOW each other as internal drama cranks up
- 1 hour ago
Hamilton 'emotional burden' heading into 2024 season revealed
- 2 hours ago
Marko DIRECTLY addresses Verstappen quit rumours
- 3 hours ago
Vettel CONFIRMS F1 comeback and reveals what's holding it up
- Today 19:42
- 1
Hamilton flooded with applications as F1 celebrity pal founds new team
- Today 18:57
F1 Race Calendar
-
GP BAHRAIN
29 Feb - 2 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP SAUDI ARABIA
7 - 9 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP AUSTRALIA
22 - 24 Mar
Carlos Sainz
- GP JAPAN 5 - 7 Apr
- GP CHINA 19 - 21 Apr
- GP USA 3 - 6 May
- GP ITALY 17 - 19 May
- GP MONACO 24 - 26 May
Related news
F1 pundit SLAMS Mercedes as Hamilton woes continue
Hamilton labelled 'best that's ever walked the earth' after INCREDIBLE display
F1 team SAVED Russell from major injuries after horror crash
Mercedes F1 star will 'MISS' Japanese Grand Prix
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860