George Russell acknowledges concerns about the 2025 car “Baked in in Mercedes” following the disappointing show at the Emilia Romana Grand Prix.
Britt recorded the worst Grand Prix result of the season, as long as he went 7th in Imola, who fell from third on the grid.
While poor strategy calls and misfortune over the timing of virtual safe vehicles were involved in the outcome, Russell was downcast by a general lack of pace in warm Italian situations.
He said Sky Sports F1: “The trend is pretty clear. When it’s hot, we get slower. When it’s cold, we’re fast. That was the same last year.
“We’ve done everything in the setup and tried to find a solution, but obviously there’s something more basic about the car.”
Russell is fourth in the driver’s standings and 47 points back from leader Oscar Piastri, but he ignores a pace that is inferior to Australia’s McLaren team (often Red Bull) and has scored four podiums in the opening six rounds of the season ahead of Imola.
He continued: “It’s not the first race of the season when we were slower than Ferrari and even slower at the same pace as Williams, but somehow we managed to get results on these occasions.
“But today, we were honestly very fortunate to finish the P7.”
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The yellow flag of Esteban Ocon caused a gust of wind at the pit stop, resulting in some tighter calls to these drivers
“We need to think quickly.”
Despite Russell’s teammate Kimi Antoneri retired from his first race in his hometown soil due to throttle issues, despite Max Verstappen’s lack of help in Red Bull and Ferrari’s general lack of speed, the average Mercedes is second in the constructor’s championship, but is already 132 points ahead of McLaren.
Mercedes’ performance last season has been better in cool conditions, with Russell and his former teammate Lewis Hamilton each sharing two wins, but they’ve struggled to match up with the top runners in the warm event.
The silver arrows introduced front suspension and wing upgrades to the Imora. This seemed to have been a very important optimism before the event, but in the end it was of no use.
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz looks back on all the big topics of Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Russell added:
“I saw Ferrari a few years ago, they used to be fast in qualifying and slow in the race, and now they have made U-turns.
“So we need to find a better compromise, especially before the next race. We are approaching summer and that won’t work for us. We need to think quickly.”
Next to the European triple header of F1 will be the Monaco Grand Prix, the crown jewel, from May 23rd to 25th, and will be performing live at Sky Sports F1 this Friday. Stream Sky Sports Now – No Contract, Cancel Anytime
