Mercedes Car 'Little Bit Rushed" Last Year Says Russell

Wednesday, 03 January 2024 at 08:00

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George Russell recently discussed the mistakes Mercedes has made in development during the last two seasons and suggested the 2022 car was "a little bit rushed."

At the end of the 2023 season, we all know Mercedes's decision to pursue their W13 and W14 concepts was wrong. But it hasn't been so clear throughout previous seasons.

The team's principal Toto Wolff recently said the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, which Mercedes dominated, was what gave the team hope in the older concept, which they abandoned ahead of the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix.

On the other hand, the German team has been saying for a while they understand what the issues with the car were and that they plan to build a completely different car for 2024.

George Russell recently told the media he was more confident going into the 2023-2024 winter break. He said his team has been "working on the new [W15] concept for a long time, and there’s been so much due diligence gone into that concept."

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On the contrary, the Mercedes F1 driver stated he thought Mercedes rushed the previous concept of the car by jumping to a few conclusions.

"Whereas I think last year it was all a little bit rushed, We didn’t have all the information to hand, we may have jumped to a couple of conclusions without thoroughly going through the consequences."

Mercedes hoped to turn things around in 2023, but the beginning of the season revealed a harsh reality when Red Bull Racing drivers finished the race more than half a minute ahead of them.

"And we learned when the car hit the ground this year that we made a step forward in some regards, but it came with a lot of baggage and we hadn’t taken that into consideration."

Mercedes didn't win a single race during 2023, so even though they finished one place higher in the Construcors' Championship, there have not been many reasons for celebrations. Still, Russell believes the 2023 season allowed his team to understand their car better. He added:

"So, I think we’ve done a great job to truly understand what we need. We’ve obviously had a further 12 months’ experience to further understand the car and what brings the performance."