George Russell is adamant he is not experiencing the same fluctuations as Lewis Hamilton amid Mercedes’ continued struggles at Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix.
Despite retaining renewed optimism coming into the season with its revamped 2024 car, Mercedes has recorded its worst start to a campaign since 2012 this term.
But while it encountered a challenging Friday, Mercedes shot up the order in the final practice hour to be fourth and fifth, with Hamilton a tenth adrift of the leading pace.
However, the seven-time champion succumbed to a shock Q2 exit, with Russell, who had scraped through to the pole shootout, achieving seventh on the starting grid.
Russell asserts that Mercedes’ high-speed cornering deficit meant it wasn’t a surprise the team was on the back foot compared to its rivals at the Albert Park Circuit.
“We definitely know we’re struggling in the high-speed corners and this is a circuit [where] you see quite a lot of medium and high-speed corners,” Russell noted.
“We know where we need to work on, that’s clear, but in these first three quails of the year we’ve been P3, P3, P7 and in a grid so tight there’s still all to play for behind Red Bull.”
Hamilton had bemoaned enduring “one of the worst sessions for a long time” in FP2 following a series of aggressive set-up changes Mercedes admitted “backfired”.
Although Hamilton has rued inconsistent spikes on his Mercedes W15, Russell has denied that he has been battling similar variations regarding the balance of his car.
“I’m definitely not having the fluctuations in confidence and performance on my side of the garage, or in my car, compared to what Lewis is experiencing,” he clarified.
“I’m reasonably happy with how the car is handling. We just don’t have the performance.
“It was a difficult day but we still qualified P7. There’s gonna be a lot of deg tomorrow in the race but still a lot to play for.”
Pirelli’s decision to bring its Softest compounds to Australia has triggered expectations among the drivers that the 58-lap race will transcend into a two-stop affair.
With the teams electing to retain their Hard compounds for the grand prix, Russell predicts that it could be an “exciting” affair with the limited running on the C3 tyre.
Asked if it was an unknown with the rubber available this weekend, the Briton replied: “Absolutely, because every team has kept two sets of Hards.
“Nobody’s done a lap on the Hards yet, and everyone’s gonna be racing at least one set tomorrow. That makes it relatively exciting.
“We saw Jeddah last week that C2 has been way too resilient for a circuit of this nature. So let’s see what the hard tyre this year has to offer. Definitely expecting a bit more excitement.”
Russell has also reiterated his criticism from last season’s Mexico Grand Prix that Pirelli’s Softest compound is proving too “unpredictable” for teams to understand.
“It’s been the norm of the fluctuations between teams especially racing the C5 tyre, it’s really unpredictable,” Russell said.
“We saw in Mexico last year the times changing between teams and it’s tight out there between the four teams bar Red Bull.”
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