George Russell outlines test plan as Mercedes have “mountain to climb” in F1 2024

George Russell remains adamant Mercedes can turn things around despite an underwhelming start to the 2024 F1 season.

Mercedes currently sit fourth in the F1 constructors’ championship, two points behind McLaren in third.

While they did show some promise in Bahrain, challenging the Ferrari pair for the podium until overheating issues plagued both drivers, Saudi Arabia was a clear step back with both Russell and Lewis Hamilton losing out considerably in high-speed corners.

According to various GPS data, Mercedes were losing out to all nine teams in a number of corners in Jeddah, including Alpine, who have the slowest car in F1 currently.

Despite their struggles, Russell is confident of a better Australian Grand Prix, particularly as Mercedes have fared well at Albert Park in the last two seasons.

“We’ve gone well here the last two seasons,” he said. “We qualified second and third here last year, we were fighting for the win at one point. We’ve learned so much from the first two races. I think we are definitely going out tomorrow to test a lot of things on the car to get a better handle on how to get the most out of this.

“There’s the softer compound of tyres this year which Ferrair tend to go pretty well, qualify well on the C5 tyre. If you take the Red Bull out of the situation, it’s really exciting that battle right behind them.”

Given the first races take place outside of Europe, teams tend to wait until later in the season to introduce significant upgrades.

Russell believes Aston Martin’s swing in performance last year shows that things can change very quickly in F1.

“Ultimately, we’re not here to fight for P2,” he added. “We want to be fighting for the victory and we know it’s a mountain to climb. It swings very quickly in this sport. Going through our meeting this morning, seeing the Aston Martin on the podium.

“If somebody said after the first six races last year they’d finish P5 in the championship you wouldn’t believe it. I think that just goes to show how quick things can change.”