Mercedes “playing catch up” after “wrong decisions over the winter” - Russell

Mercedes went into 2023 with greater optimism after a year of learning last year.

They ended on a high with a win at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix while continuing to close the gap to the top two teams.

They had a rude awakening in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, ending the race at the fourth-fastest team.

Since then, Mercedes has made steady progress, sitting comfortably second in the constructors’ championship.

In an interview with Autoweek, Russell revealed that Mercedes continue to “understand things further and clearer” at each event.

“We definitely made some wrong decisions over the winter last year that set us back quite a little bit and that's why we've being playing catch up so far this season,” Russell said. 

“I think every race that goes by we understand things further and clearer.”

Russell explained that a big weakness with the W14 is rear end stability and having that confidence to push.

“Something we've been trying to improve a lot is just the through corner balance of the car,” Russell explained. 

“I think both Lewis [Hamilton] and I are searching for a bit more confidence and rear end in the car so that we can hit the ground running during a race weekend. 

“I think that's something that Red Bull have done a really great job of: allowing their drivers on lap one of the weekend to go out, push it to the limit and in little fear of crashing the car or spinning out.

“But it's always marginal gains in many areas. If you can find half a tenth here, half a tenth there, suddenly you can add that up to a large chunk of lap time. So, you know, that's just what we're working through at the moment.”