Mercedes will have 'a long, hard season', says former F1 driver

Former racing driver David Coulthard recently told Channel 4 that he does not believe the 2022 season is going to be an easy ride for Mercedes, who have struggled so far with massive issues such as a visible lack of pace as compared to that of Ferrari and Red Bull and significant porpoising problems.

“I think what’s happened is there has been a number of changes to the rules and regulations, fuel has also changed, it seems like the Mercedes package hasn’t actually responded to that as well as Ferrari, Honda, Renault, and of course Ferrari are right out front."

Mercedes have been vocal about these problems. The eight-time world champions currently stand second in the constructors' standings, but have yet another twenty races to try to maintain or improve their position:

“But I think this will be a long, hard season for them. I totally accept they’ve got a different group of people there that can help develop that car but nobody else stands still, that’s the problem they have. So they have to take not baby steps, they need to take a massive step forward, and in my experience that never happens during a season.”

Mercedes’ strategy director James Vowles also commented on the team's plans regarding upgrades and the evolution of their 2022 challenger:

“When we get back to the European [phase of the] season teams would generally bring more performance upgrades, and I suspect you will see an evolution of our competitors and we need to make sure we at the very minimum keep up with that."

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George Russell claims that no substational improvements are to be expected from Mercedes at Imola

George Russell currently stands second in the drivers' standings after a strong weekend at the Australian Grand Prix but has warned fans that no significant upgrades or developments are to be expected from the Silver Arrows too soon.

As reported by PlanetF1, Russell described the team's plans going ahead in the 2022 season:

“Unfortunately there’s nothing substantial in the pipeline anytime soon. It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s going to take a number of races."

“I think there’ll be little things, there’ll be incremental steps but we recognise that our rivals are going to be doing the same so it may not be clear to the outside world that we’ve made progress because Ferrari and Red Bull are going to be making progress as well.”

Despite what the current constructors' standings look like, Mercedes pose no real long-term threat to Ferrari or Red Bull, while this could easily change over the course of the season with the upcoming upgrades and car development.