"This is a sport all about results" - Mercedes' George Russell wary of Haas and Alfa Romeo pace
Mercedes driver George Russell finished the Bahrain GP in a surprise fourth position behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton. The result, however, was somewhat skewed after what had happened to the two Red Bull cars that promoted the Brackley-based outfit's cars into podium contention.
After the race, Russell was pragmatic about his team's chances this season as he admitted that they were more worried about Haas and Alfa Romeo behind them than Red Bull and Ferrari ahead of them. He said:
“Ultimately, this is a sport all about results. It doesn’t matter if you have the fastest car or the slowest car, it is about who ends up standing on that top step of the podium.”
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Russell further went on to elaborate on his team's concerns, saying:
“If you told us we would come away from this weekend with a P3 and a P4, we absolutely would have taken it. We weren’t awfully that much quicker than the midfield and that was probably more of our concern than the guys ahead. We knew we would be a long way behind Red Bull and Ferrari but we equally saw how quick Haas were, how quick Alfa Romeo were. McLaren didn’t have points. They had a really difficult weekend here but in Barcelona they looked strong so we have got a lot of work to do.”
Mercedes looking to try whatever possible to get car closer to front
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George Russell has had his doubts about the time it'll take for Mercedes to get back in contention for the wins. The team, however, have claimed that they are working flat out to close the gap to the front.
Mercedes have opted for a radical 'no-sidepod' design philosophy this season. The concept introduced during the pre-season test in Bahrain has been a bit of a headache for the team.
The W13 does not seem to handle well on the track. Additionally, the porpoising effect is extreme and detrimental in setting up the car, resulting in it being close to half a second behind the front runners in Bahrain.
According to their engineering director Andrew Shovlin, the team will do everything possible to bring down the deficit against Ferrari in the Saudi Arabian GP. It will be interesting to see how the German team progresses from this situation, lest we forget, they are the reigning constructors' champions this season.