Mercedes Has To 'Close Huge Gap' But Won't Fall Into Same Traps Says Russell

Thursday, 04 January 2024 at 22:00

George Russell said he is going into the 2024 season with an open mind, even though he does not expect to compete with Red Bull straight from the beginning.

Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok recently said Mercedes has the best driver pairing in Formula One. However, the team's biggest issue at the moment is building a competitive car.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton both showed their qualities in the past, and the only missing piece to the puzzle for them is to have a car fast enough that it would match Red Bull's pace.

Mercedes hasn't won a single race during the 2023 season - making it the first season ever since 2011 in which we haven't seen a Silver Arrows driver on the top step of the podium.

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Mercedes's team principal, Toto Wolff, promised significant changes to the 2024 Mercedes car. He warned his team would change every single component possible, as that would be the only way his team can catch up with Red Bull.

George Russell recently acknowledged Red Bull's success in the 2023 season as he called the RB19 "statistically" most dominant car ever and admitted a huge task awaits his team. As reported by motorsport.com, he said:

"The fact is we’ve got to close a huge gap. The Red Bull dominance this year is probably the greatest - I think statistically it is the most dominant car ever, so we’ve all got a huge task on our hands."

The 25-year-old continued saying nobody expects Mercedes or any other team to match Red Bull at the beginning of this year's season.

"But I’m going into next year with an open mind. I don’t think anyone’s expecting either us, McLaren, Aston Martin, or Ferrari to make that step straight away."

However, many fans would like to see any of the above-mentioned teams at least get closer to Red Bull by the first race of the season in Bahrain.

On the positive side, the Mercedes driver said: "But [I’m] definitely confident we won’t fall into some of the same traps we did this [last] year."