George Russell believes Mercedes has “taken a big step backwards” as the Formula 1 season has gone on, after a difficult qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Brit will line-up sixth on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps, having been unable to compete against McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari.
In fact, Russell eventually dropped behind Williams’ Alex Albon, who lines-up fifth, as team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli failed to make it out of Q1.
It was a wretched result in the Sprint Race earlier in the day, too, as Russell finished 12th.
Russell, who enjoyed a bright opening half to the season, including a win in Canada, is unsure of what the W16 challenger is suffering from, but is aware that it will need to be rectified.
“My laps felt really strong,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “But clearly as a team we’re off the pace this weekend.
“And, other than yesterday, this is my worst qualification of the year – same for Kimi so we need to understand what’s going on.”
Russell hopeful that possible wet weather can even the field
Russell feels that Mercedes is drifting further towards the middle of the pack, essentially giving up on any discernible chances of a positive result come race day.
“Historically, on Sprint Race weekends, if you have a bad Sprint, if you turn the car upside down for the next day, it rarely works,” Russell explained.
“So we made some sensible changes, but we just need to understand – the first six races of the year, we had four podiums, now we’ve had one in the last six, and clearly we’ve taken a big step backwards towards the midfield.”
But things could be thrown up if it will rain, which is forecast and a common eventuality at Spa, but the W16’s set-up for the race may not be conducive to the wet.
“In stint one there won’t be any more overtakes [than in the Sprint Race],” Russell said.
“But of course when you pit, if it’s dry, nobody knows if this Hard tyre will be a good tyre or not, and that may force people for a two-stop, people might try the one-stop, so always when you have a variety of strategy, options appear.
“But it looks to be wet – wet races often create some carnage as well…”
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