Mercedes 'behind Red Bull in all areas' - Russell

George Russell has conceded that Mercedes is behind Red Bull "in all areas" after the constructors' champion's tough start to the season continued in Saudi Arabia.

Mercedes has struggled for pace so far this year with rivals Red Bull and Ferrari scoring a win apiece.

Acknowledging the work of the two pace-setting teams, Russell conceded the Silver Arrows have a lot of work to do to close the margin.

"Everything did look better when we turned the engines up for qualifying and we looked relatively on par with Ferrari in terms of straight-line speed," said Russell.

“Red Bull were definitely running less wing than we were but they seemed to accelerate very fast when they get down the straight.

“They are seemingly doing a better job at reducing their drag at high speed and their pace at the moment is extraordinary. We need to do some work in all areas to catch up.”

Wind tunnels not picking up porpoising issue

The Mercedes has been more severely affected by proposing than a number of other teams during the early stages of the season.

As a result, Mercedes is unable to run the W13 as low as the cars of its rivals, something that directly harms lap times.

"I think we’re doing everything we can back at base to try and emulate the issues we are seeing on track," added Russell.

“The wind tunnels aren’t really picking it [porpoising] up as we are on track, our wind tunnel is an isolated environment and the circuit has so many parameters at play.

“We’ve got the smartest people in the business and we all believe in our people back at base, so I’m sure we can solve it.”

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