F1 News: George Russell explains why Mercedes are still a 'long way off' the pace in Japan

russell, hamilton, japan, 2024, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News

Russell explains why Mercedes are still a 'long way off' the pace in Japan

The two Mercedes drivers qualified outside the top 5 for Sunday's race at Suzuka.

By Sheona Mountford.

Saturday 6 April 2024 23:00

A F1 star has revealed the ‘drastic’ changes their team has made to find performance at the Japanese GP.

There were mixed fortunes for teams at the Australian GP with Max Verstappen retiring his Red Bull during the opening laps of the race.

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Carlos Sainz claimed the race victory, and Charles Leclerc sealed a 1-2 finish for Ferrari.

On the other hand, Mercedes have had a difficult start to the 2024 season, with a double DNF at the Australian GP pulling them behind F1 rivals.

Fernando Alonso and George Russell Australian GP 2024

Mercedes make ‘drastic’ changes

George Russell detailed the changes in understanding around the car to the media after qualifying at the Japanese GP.

“We’re definitely doing more drastic test items at the moment to try and get on top of this high-speed performance,” he said.

“The car is correlating well in the low speed and the medium speed. But we’re a long way off in the high speed compared to what we’re seeing back at base. So we need to get on top of that.

“And as I said, when you get to qualifying and the fuel comes out, the speeds are only going higher, higher and higher. And that sort of runs away from us slightly.

“Whereas in the race, you’re probably going around the corners 30kph slower in a high-speed [corner], which brings it back into more of a medium-speed corner rather than a high-speed one.

“We need to understand that and it’s good that it’s been exposed this early in the season.

“We see it in the data what’s happening. How to solve that is another question.”

“But inherently in the car, we’re missing something in those high speeds.

“It’s definitely a bit of a shame, because I think we could be much more competitive if we were there and as we saw in Bahrain, qualifying P3, in the race, we were on course for a P2 before the engine problem.”

Red Bull Max Verstappen Ferrari Mercedes Charles Leclerc Carlos Sainz