Agony continues for Mercedes: 'totally different limitations now'

Mercedes faced another tough qualifying session on Saturday, with their drivers finishing P7 and P8. For George Russell, he believes the team is aware of the issues they are experiencing, but the changes to the car cannot just happen overnight, which is why they are in the position they are in. The Brit even admitted they overcompensated with the changes made. Nevertheless, the British driver is confident that the team can close the gap between them and their competitiors during Sunday's Grand Prix. 

Commenting on where the team is at the moment, Russell told Sky Sports F1: "P7 and P8, we have to accept is where we are at the moment. We are a step behind McLaren and Ferrari, a big step behind Red Bull. I think the result we showed today was the maximum. But I'm confident tomorrow we will make a step forwards towards them."

Mercedes have had a turbulent start to the 2024 season, and currently stand fourth in the Constructors championship, with Russell in seventh, and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in ninth in the Driver's championship. 

What's gone wrong for Mercedes?

"The fact is that the stopwatch doesn't lie, and we know that probably some of the changes we have made since the end of last year perhaps overcompensated with some of the development items we did. We have limitations with the car now which is a totally different limitation to what we had this time 12 months ago," Russell commented. 

"When new upgrades take 8 weeks to bring to the car, you learn this problem, race 1, race 2. You can't just bring an upgrade to the next race. You've got to put in the wind tunnel, you've got to design it, someone's got to draw it, someone's got to build it, and then you're halfway through the season. I think that's why it's so difficult when you're on the back foot to just suddenly make that progress, and everybody expects it tomorrow, and we want it tomorrow, trust me. But this is the reality of Formula 1," he added.