After virtually going non-competitive throughout 2022, Mercedes continued the bad run to 2023. What came up as a bigger surprise was that the Silver Arrows were slower than even Aston Martin, the team that uses their power units. That was perhaps too much to take for team principal Toto Wolff. The Austrian boss talked about the need for the team to make some radical changes and didn’t care if they ended up making the car look like that of Red Bull’s. Now George Russell has fired a warning shot at rivals, giving a peak at what’s to come.

Mercedes is currently going through perhaps the worst form they have seen in the last few years. This was the time they needed a senior figure like Niki Lauda to guide them through. Wolff too admitted recently that he missed his presence the most now more than ever. Russell, however, is confident that the team will pull through.

Speaking at the pre-race press conference in Australia, the Briton said, “We’re here to win, we’re here to fight for victories, for the championship. Clearly, we’re not in a position to do that at the moment, but big changes are incoming. There’s nothing that you’ll see on the car this weekend because naturally, you can’t get things brought that quickly to the car. But I think in the due course, you’ll see some big changes and hopefully, the lap times represent that.”

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He also talked about how the progress they have made in the last few weeks is far more than what they achieved during the whole winter break.

Simulator results showing positive signs, says George Russell

Moving from Williams to Mercedes was definitely an upgrade for George. However, little would he have known that the team he was moving to was about to take one of the most epic drubbings at the hands of their sworn rivals. Irrespective, the Silver Arrows will forever be the team he won his first race with. Currently, he is working closely with them, seeking to draw every bit of performance out of the car.

Speaking about the numbers on the simulator, the junior Mercedes driver said, “We’re working really hard at the moment with these changes. So, I won’t give too much away. We need to make sure that works as expected. But we’re probably finding more gains in the past two or three weeks than we found over the whole winter by clearly being developing in the wrong window. It’s definitely heading in the right direction.”

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Both Russell and Wolff have talked about the big changes they are about to introduce. Will they be able to contain those within the budget cap limit? Only time will tell.