"This one is just a plain mystery" - Martin Brundle believes Mercedes have a good car that is really 'well hidden'

With a P5 and P6 result for Mercedes at the Miami Grand Prix, the team had one of their better weekends so far in the 2022 season after eight consistent years of dominating the sport. After Mercedes topped the charts in the practice sessions only to significantly lose out to the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull in Saturday's qualifying, Martin Brundle described the team's 2022 challenger as a "mystery."

Reflecting on the inaugural Miami GP in his column for Sky Sports, the former F1 driver wrote:

"Mercedes were once again the third-best team, but in many ways I think it was their most concerning weekend. George Russell was fastest on Friday and struggled for pace thereafter, and the team simply didn't know why. They've talked about 'diva' cars before, but this one is just a plain mystery with a knife-edge window of set-up. There's a good car in there somewhere, it's just so well hidden."

He also commented on George Russell's well-timed pit stop strategy, arguing that it was not merely his fortune with the safety car that resulted in his impressive result, but also a strong drive on the hard compound tires from the very beginning, that made the Briton deserving of his fifth consecutive top-five finish.

"It's easy to say Russell got lucky with the Safety Car. He had to manage the Hard compound tyres from the start, keep his head when going further backwards a little, build the long-run pace as others started to fade, and then call the shots from the cockpit about staying out and hoping for a Safety Car."

Mercedes currently stand third in the Constructor Standings with a total of 95 points.

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George Russell claims he has "total faith" in Mercedes

George Russell, who has proven himself to be one of the most consistent drivers in his first year at Mercedes, revealed that he believes the car has the pace to match up with the top teams, as was witnessed in Friday's practice session in Miami.

Reflecting on the Miami Grand Prix and expressing his faith in the team, George Russell told SkySports:

"We showed on Friday we have a fast car, there is a fast car there and I have total faith and confidence it is in there somewhere and we just need to understand how to unlock it. I think we can find chunks and chunks and chunks of lap time if we just find that killer key to get it in that perfect spot."

"I am not sure if that will be next race but the guys are working day and night back at the factory to find the solution and we all believe we can so we have got to stick to our guns, keep pushing down this direction and it is going to be a number of races before we say we need to go a different way, but I believe in them."

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Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton firmly believe that Mercedes will soon be able to unlock the true potential of the car.