George Russell conceded that Mercedes was “dropping like a stone” during Sunday’s Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, forcing him into a second pit stop.
The Silver Arrows looked like one of the teams to beat coming into the summer break, winning three of the last four races before the F1 circus went on holiday.
Russell clinched fourth in qualifying but reckoned pole was within his grasp, but any chance for a victory charge was quickly quashed on race day.
The Mercedes driver fell behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the second phase of the race, and diminishing returns on Hards prompted a change.
“I probably would have finished one, maybe max two positions higher, but we just had no pace,” Russell said post-race.
“I was just dropping like a stone, especially quite surprised versus Ferrari.
“We were expecting to be comfortably ahead of them and Charles was quicker, Carlos [Sainz]was catching me.
“Clearly, we got something wrong, I think, with the tyres.”
Russell reckoned “a podium was on the cards” through the race’s opening exchanges, but he found himself more than 40 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris.
That alarming deficit is akin to the one Russell had to Max Verstappen in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Given Mercedes’ progress since March, Russell was shocked to find himself so far off a win in late August, even with McLaren bringing several upgrades to Zandvoort.
“I was really shocked at how fast McLaren were,” the two-time F1 race winner said.
“Lando just looked so comfortable out there and it was super impressive to see, but we’ve had six really strong races and then suddenly we’ve finished almost a minute behind the win today.
“You don’t lose all of that performance overnight. Yesterday, we qualified fourth and clearly didn’t get something right today.”
Asked to pinpoint where Mercedes went wrong, Russell replied: “Honestly, right now, I’m still scratching my head.
“It was very tough conditions with this wind, with the long corners. Right now, I don’t have the answers.”
After losing a win through disqualification at Spa-Francorchamps ahead of the summer break, Russell was handed another reality check in Holland.
With McLaren looking in imperious form out in front and Ferrari resurgent ahead of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Russell and Mercedes need to find answers quickly.
