George Russell has admitted he is concerned about “baked in” issues with Mercedes’ 2025 car following a lacklustre showing at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver had his worst finish of the season so far as he finished seventh, having dropped back from third on the grid.
While not entirely down to the performance of the car, with poor strategy and unfortunate Virtual Safety Car timing going against the Briton, Russell was left frustrated at the lack of pace in Italy.
When he spoke to the media, he commented on the lack of pace: “The trends are pretty clear.
George Russell is not happy with his Mercedes
Reuters
"When it's hot, we're slow. When it's cold, we're quick. That was the same last year.
"We've been doing everything with the setup to try and find solutions, but there's clearly something more fundamental in the car.
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"It's not the first race for this season where we've been slower than Ferrari, even slower or the same pace as Williams, but we've just somehow managed to get a result out of it on these occasions.
"But today we were very lucky to finish P7 in all honesty."
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The Mercedes does not work well in warmer temperatures
Reuters
Russell is currently fourth in the drivers standings, 47 points back from championship leader Oscar Piastri, but has used his consistency when faster cars have had issues to pick up four podiums in the opening six round of the championship.
Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli retired from his first home race with a throttle issue, but despite this, Mercedes currently sit second in the Constructors Championship, 132 points behind McLaren.
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Even with the addition of a new front suspension and wing upgrades, Mercedes didn’t look to have the pace to fight for the podium all race.
Russell added: "I wouldn't say we are running out of ideas to solve the tyres, but as I said, it's sort of baked into the car.
"You look at Ferrari a few years ago, they used to be mega quick in qualifying and slow in the race. Now they've kind of done a U-turn, and they also don't really understand why that is.
With warmer tempratures expected the Mercedes duo may struggle for rounds to come
Reuters
"So, we need to find a better compromise, especially ahead of the next race. We're approaching summer and it doesn't really bode well for us. We need to think quick."
The team do not have long to find a solution as they head to Monaco to race around the famous streets this weekend.
