George Russell believes Mercedes “rushed” the development of their F1 cars while the British provided an update on the 2024 W15.
George Russell voiced his belief that his Mercedes team will learn from its missteps this winter, saying that the team “rushed” the design of the 2023 car.
Russell’s team faces a formidable task in creating and refining the W15. Compared to its two predecessors, whose drivers only managed one win between them, it needs to be far more competitive.
Russell was the one who made sure that victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2022. Lewis Hamilton, a teammate, has not won an F1 race in over two years, which is by far the longest streak of his illustrious career.
Mercedes has been lagging behind Red Bull ever since they failed to adjust to the new automotive standards in 2022. For their 2023 W14 car, they persisted, but they soon realized they were headed in the wrong direction and swiftly altered their strategy.
Toto Wolff, the team principal, has previously stated that his team is effectively starting from scratch with the W15, creating a completely new idea and design from front to back. Regarding the design of his new racing machine, Russell is happy with the “due diligence” he has observed from teammates.
“I believe everything was a little too hurried last year,” he said to Autosport. We might have jumped to a few decisions without fully considering the ramifications because we didn’t have all the facts at our disposal.
We discovered that, although we had made progress in certain areas, the car came with a lot of baggage, which we hadn’t taken into account when it crashed this year. Therefore, I believe we’ve done a fantastic job of genuinely understanding what we need.
“It goes without saying that we have gained further insight into the automobile and what makes it perform better over the past 12 months. I believe that the previous year, we put all of our eggs into one basket, and that basket did not deliver the results we had hoped for.
“The truth is that there is a significant gap that needs to be closed. According to statistics, the Red Bull dominance [in 2023] is likely the biggest; in fact, I believe it to be the most dominant car ever. That means that everyone of us has a very big job ahead. However, I’ll be entering the upcoming year with an open mind.
“Neither McLaren, Aston Martin, Ferrari, or us are likely to make that move immediately, in my opinion. However, [I] am quite sure that we won’t fall into some of the same pitfalls that we did this year.”
