George Russell sees a need for Mercedes to improve its performance in low-speed cornering, and also stressed that the team needs to stop being outclassed by Alpine and McLaren in qualifying
George Russell remains the most consistent driver in Formula 1 in 2022. In the seven races so far, the Briton has finished in the top five. Even with Mercedes' difficulties in 2022, the former Williams driver has been able to overcome the W13's problems to achieve good results. In the last race in Monaco, Russell finished fifth with a car that didn't perform as well as it did in Spain and, in his opinion, needs to improve in the low-speed corners.
"I think we just need to find a little more aerodynamic pressure. We have not been very competitive in low speed corners. When we look at Barcelona, we were the fastest in the high-speed corners and also on the straight, completely the opposite of the characteristics of Monaco," explained George.
Another problem in the Briton's view has been Mercedes' pace in qualifying. In Monaco, Russell started sixth, behind his compatriot Lando Norris. The German team has been frequently overtaken by McLaren and Alpine, even though it has recovered positions during the races.
"We need to be faster in qualifying. We can't let an Alpine or McLaren get in front of us. We are fast enough to recover in the race, but we still don't have the performance to fight with Ferrari and Red Bull," said the Mercedes driver.
Lewis Hamilton has also suffered from Mercedes' problems, even more than his teammate. The seven-time champion complained a lot about the potholes, which appeared again on the streets of the Principality after a lull in Barcelona, and agreed with Russell: the car needs more aerodynamic pressure.
"I kind of expected it. We weren't fast in low-speed [corners]. In the race it was okay, but on a lap it wasn't, so we anticipated it would be difficult. It was worse than we expected because of the bumps. We shook a lot, whether it was high, medium, or low speed corners. It was quite challenging," Lewis said.
Mercedes is now off to another street circuit challenge in Baku. The Azerbaijan GP is scheduled for this Sunday (12th), with complete coverage by GRANDE PRÊMIO.