Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has explained why George Russell has struggled so far this season, having shown so much promise in 2022.
In Russell’s maiden season for the Silver Arrows, the 25-year-old was exceptional.
He claimed the team’s only pole position and victory, whilst he also became just the third team-mate of Lewis Hamilton’s to defeat him in the Drivers’ Championship.
Russell just seemed to click with the woeful W13 better than Hamilton, yet it’s been the complete opposite this season.
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The King’s Lynn-born driver is sixth in the standings and is 49 points behind Hamilton, who is enjoying a good season.
Hamilton has gotten on with the W14 significantly better than Russell, with the latter having made little improvement since Mercedes introduced their new concept.
In total, Russell has claimed just one podium so far this season, whereas Hamilton has managed four.
Even when Russell did finish on the rostrum, he still finished behind his seven-time World Champion team-mate.
Wolff explained Russell’s struggled as being down to the W14 having no “sweet spot”, in his defence of the British driver’s season so far.
“These cars are on the knife’s edge,” Wolff explained, as reported by Motorsport Week.
“You can quickly fall off it and lose the confidence. On the other side, if you’re within that corridor of sweet spot… having said that, that car [W14] has no sweet spot!
“But being more in that zone of understanding what it will do next, I think there’s a big difference and you can quickly be in either one of these situations, and obviously it goes against you.”
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott agreed with Wolff’s defence of Russell and added that he’s certain the driver will get the best out of the W14.
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“I think these cars are hard to drive and they’re running close to the ground,” Elliott said.
“And it’s tricky to sort of find that right balance through the corner. It’s tricky to do [that] with the stiffness of the cars.
“George is a fantastic driver so I’m sure he’ll get what he needs to get out of the car fairly quickly.”