George Russell has insisted that the “mistakes” Mercedes have made since the start of the new aerodynamic regulations “will only help” the Silver Arrows in the future, given that it’s taught them several lessons.
The Silver Arrows entered the new era of the sport last season with the unsuccessful ‘zero-sidepod’ philosophy, which they attempted to develop for just over 12 months.
Mercedes’ initial concept proved ineffective, and ultimately caused their dramatic porpoising woes.
2022 ended up being a miserable season for the side, as they spent the majority of the campaign trying to get the W13 to stop bouncing.
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Fast forward to the start of this season and the Brackley-based team remained determined to get the ‘zero-sidepod’ concept to work, although in doing so they ignored advice from Lewis Hamilton.
After finally coming to the realisation that the concept was a failure, Mercedes introduced an entirely new concept at the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this season, which features a traditional sidepod design.
Since then, the Silver Arrows have started to finally make strides in the right direction, giving the Germans confidence that they’ve discovered the correct development path to take.
This has allowed them to introduce upgrades which have actually improved their performance, with Russell revealing that the team still have a “few more little things” to introduce before the end of 2023.
“In all honesty, there’ll be a few more little things to come towards the end of the season, which will aid our learning into next season,” Russell said, as reported by The Mirror.
Overall, Mercedes have learnt from their mistakes and are finally starting to turn a new page, with Russell admitting that the side’s development “errors” have actually helped the outfit get onto the “right path”.
The 25-year-old believes this will help them in the future, in their attempt to return to the top of the sport.
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“Yeah, I think we’ve made some good gains this season,” Russell added.
“I think it’s clear that we made some mistakes ahead of the 2022 season, and again over this winter, but I’m definitely confident that these mistakes are going to aid us and help us a lot for the future.
“And, you know, you need those setbacks, and you need those errors to set you on the right path. And I think, as a team, we’re incredibly motivated to get back to the top.
“And as I said, I think the lessons we’ve learned over these two years, will only help us in the years to come.”