George Russell believes there will come a time when Mercedes’ rivals stumble into development “traps”, hurdles the Brackley outfit have already overcome this season.
11 races into the 2022 championship with its new-generation cars and Mercedes are yet to win a Grand Prix, a surprise given the team’s dominance over the past eight years.
In fact, Mercedes have yet to record even a second result, leaving the team behind Red Bull and Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.
There have been positive results in recent weeks, with Russell and Lewis Hamilton stringing together a run of four consecutive podiums, while the W13 bounce has been minimal in the last three races.
The bounce, or guinea pig, has been a huge setback for Mercedes at the start of this season, as it has caused uncertainty about where they stand when it comes to improvements.
So much so that Russell admits they’ve tripped up a few times.
However, the Brit insists the trials the team have had to overcome have not been in vain and warns that other teams could soon fall into their own development “traps”.
“I really believe we will be fighting for wins in the second half of the season,” he told Motorsport.com.
“We are making tremendous progress right now. And I think as a team we have a lot to be optimistic about and there’s always been a lot of motivation and fire in this team to close the gap.
“But I think now that we’re one touch away, there’s even more.
“I think the struggles we went through at the beginning of this year will probably pay dividends next year because other teams haven’t faced the problems that we have.
“And they can fall into these traps later in the development process.” So yes, we certainly have a lot of reason to be optimistic.”
It has already been said that Red Bull are on the wrong track, the team feel that the new floor they introduced at the Austrian Grand Prix is not working as planned.
Max Verstappen will reportedly run the old track this weekend and Sergio Perez will use the new one, but it has been changed after Austria.
Speaking about the team’s deficit to Ferrari at the Red Bull Ring, the Dutchman said it was “not just about the tyres.
“I also think that the way we set up the car, not just the set-up but the package of the car, I think it wasn’t right in Austria, which we found.
“So hopefully with the things we’ve learned overall, I think we’ll be more competitive.”
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