Since last season, team Mercedes managed to get only a win in the Brazilian Grand Prix, with the help of their rookie driver, George Russell. Their star driver, Lewis Hamilton, has been winless since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The 38-year-old driver is fourth in the drivers’ standings. However, the other Mercedes driver, Russell, is 7th in the standings. Clearly, he is not having a better season in 2023.
Russell was able to beat the seven-time champion in his debut season for Mercedes last year. Since then, he has been an integral part of the German team. He has been part of the development process of the W14 car as well. Despite that, Mercedes has secured only five podium finishes this season, in which George Russell has managed only one podium finish so far. But the 25-year-old Mercedes driver has raised hopes for their fans quite high, claiming that the team is on the right track after making mistakes this year with the development of the W14 car.
George Russell Hopeful Of Learning From This Year’s Mistakes To Make Way For The 2024 Season
Recently, in an interview, George Russell mentioned his team has gained a lot of knowledge about the car this season, and they will learn more in the remaining races this year. Not just that, these learnings will lead them to the right path for the 2024 season so that they can challenge Red Bull as soon as possible. As per Russell, Mercedes is aware of the mistakes they made over the last couple of years. But it is essential to go through these setbacks.
Now, the German team is confident that these mistakes and what they have learned this season will help them in the future. Moreover, Mercedes feels hopeful about the next Grand Prix in Singapore. The W14 car generally works well at high downforce circuits. However, the low downforce circuits at Spa, Monza, Zandvoort, and so on never really helped the German team. Now the question is if Mercedes can end the winning streak of their rivals, Red Bull.
Mercedes’ W14 Is No Match For Red Bull’s RB19 Despite Many Upgrades
At the beginning of the season, Russell told the media they were not thinking about winning this season. Instead, they plan to understand the car better so that they can get ready to challenge Red Bull next year. Moreover, Russell also predicted that Red Bull might go on to win all the races this season. His prediction is not very far away from actually happening, as Red Bull won all 14 races so far. There are only eight races remaining.
Moreover, the Red Bull RB19 car’s pace and precision this year are on another level. No other car has yet to challenge Red Bull in any race so far. However, Mercedes did win pole position in the Hungarian Grand Prix this year. Moreover, Lewis Hamilton was able to get the fastest lap during the final qualifying session of the Hungarian Grand Prix. But on the final day of the race, Hamilton could not even get a podium finish. On the other hand, Red Bull won yet another race.