George Russell and Lewis Hamilton admit Mercedes are behind ahead of F1 season - ‘Red Bull in a league of their own’
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Published 02/03/2023 at 20:20 GMT
Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have been speaking about their expectations for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Having won just one race and taken one pole position in 2022, Mercedes are hoping to challenge for the title, having been beaten by Red Bull and Ferrari last year. However, Russell and Hamilton feel they are behind their rivals going into Bahrain.
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George Russell believes Red Bull are “in a league of their own” whilst Lewis Hamilton admits Mercedes have not fixed all their issues from last year ahead of the season-opening Formula 1 race.
Having lost the constructors’ championship for the first time since 2013, Mercedes were hoping to bounce back for this season.
However, pre-season testing suggested they are still behind Red Bull and will be fighting Ferrari, plus Aston Martin, who had a very impressive test.
“It probably wasn't the smoothest three days we could have hoped for,” Russell told the press ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“I went back to the UK [after the test]. I was on the simulator and the learnings, the findings we found I think is going to put us in better stead for this weekend.
“But I think it's definitely fair to say Red Bull are in a league of their own this weekend here in Bahrain, but I think it would probably be a nice fight for second place, probably between Ferrari and Aston Martin.
“We feel like we have got a lot of room that we can improve. Probably brought up a little bit more pace this weekend after the learnings of testing.
“But it's going to be for sure a challenging weekend if we want to try and fight for that victory. But we probably knew that ahead of the season.”
Last year saw Hamilton fail to win a race in a season for the first time since he made his Formula 1 debut in 2007.
One more world championship would see him surpass Michael Schumacher for the most titles in the sport’s history.
But, Hamilton says Mercedes are not where they want to be going into the new season.
"I was hoping that the changes that we discussed would be fixed but we haven't fixed all the issues," he told Sky Sports.
"The question is how far does this philosophy take us. We're currently not where Red Bull are. You just have to accept the reality you're faced with and deal with it.
"I still believe I have the team that is championship-worthy. Last year when we arrived we had all those problems, all of us were in panic mode. It took us forever to try and understand the issue.”
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