George Russell accepts lack of pace in W15, asks team to be ready for few 'painful' weekends

The Miami Grand Prix has been a won yet lost battle for Mercedes. Despite poor car performance Lewis Hamilton somehow managed to finish in the top 6 after eight GP hiatus. However, it was not enough for the team to get the desired result. 

On the other hand, another driver George Russell looked struggling the whole weekend. After a poor performance in the Sprint race, he also struggled in GP with his W15. Speaking about the race and team’s performance Russell warned the team to keep itself ready for some more painful weekends. 

"McLaren qualified P17 and P18 12 months ago in Miami, and they won, so it shows what is possible when you get things right," Russell told media in Florida. "But right now, we don't have things right and need to make changes quickly."

"We do have a few things coming in the short-term but nothing in the short-term that is going to transform us into race-winners. So, it is going to be painful for a few weeks. I think we have to accept that we are the fourth fastest team”, he further added. 

Geroge Russell says he had no grip 

Notably, earlier this weekend’s race in Miami Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had said that even Adrian Newey would have a hard time solving W15’s issues. Now, after Russell’s comments Hamilton also echoed the same citing that the team needs to work more. 

Meanwhile, speaking about his race performance and finishing behind Yuki Tsunoda Russell blamed the lack of grip. He said, "Something just didn't feel right, the car just had no grip, no pace and I was slower than Yuki for the whole of the last stint. It is swings and roundabouts for us at the moment, a good day is P5 and a bad day is P8, and it was a bad day so we finished P8."