Smartie George Russell Backtracks on Defeated Admission Against Max Verstappen & Co. As Mercedes Eye Silver Lining

From a disappointing start to a sensational comeback, the Mercedes team has gone through a rollercoaster of emotions in the early stages of the F1 season. George Russell‘s struggle to adapt to the new car, coupled with Red Bull’s blistering form, threatened to derail their title hopes. However, with a stellar performance in Australia, the Silver Arrows are oozing with confidence and the drivers are hungry for victory, once again!

Max Verstappen & Co.’s dominance in Bahrain had really brought George Russell and the squad to their knees, so much so that the Briton started to believe that the Milton Keynes-based squad would run away with all the wins this season. And he wasn’t alone in this belief. He was also joined by his boss, Toto Wolff. But it seems like a P2 and P3 in qualifying and later a P2 finish from Lewis Hamilton has raised the morale in the team, making him backtrack his statements.

George now doesn’t believe that the gap with Red Bull is as wide as it was earlier. However, the belief that the rivals will run away with the topmost podium continues to haunt him. “Yes, I think the Red Bull is one step ahead of everyone, and yet both Lewis and I made the most of the vehicle in the ranking rounds.”

“Judging by what Max said, there was probably a little more in Red Bull’s pocket. We’re talking about a 0.3 second difference, normally they were a second ahead,” he said, as quoted by Motorsport.

“So we will not give up, we will continue to push. After bringing some updates to the vehicle, we will have to reconsider the season. It is the first time we can really find out if updates are working as we wish in a few races and whether we can fight [Red Bull ].” 

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Perhaps Mercedes got too carried away with their updates, which led to George Russell’s DNF after a solid start at Albert Park. Nevertheless, a podium appears to have been a psychological barrier for the team, which is certainly in the past now.

George Russell throws another shade at his team

For a long time and after enduring the mayhem of W13 in 2022, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have been openly critical of their team. This has raised morale problems inside the factory as the drivers haven’t held back in their evaluations and wishes. The forbidden-blame culture has thus become pretty evident in the squad.

The younger British Mercedes driver went poetic and drew comparisons between horses and F1 cars. He, as quoted by the Express, said, “At the moment, however, we have a lame horse. We know that it has a lot of performance in it, but it is not happy that someone wants to ride it and the way of riding style does not suit him either.”

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After a series of comments of discontent with the engineers, the improvements became visible on the car. Most likely, the Silver Arrows have found what keeps them going now.