"We're sort of stuck with what we've got" - George Russell expects Mercedes to have 'a solution in the pipeline at some point' despite bleak situation

George Russell expects Mercedes to find a solution to their problems eventually but doesn’t expect any changes in their situation in the next few races.

The Briton feels the team is currently “stuck” with what they’ve got and would have to manage the situation as best they can.

Speaking to RN365 following the Imola GP, he said:

"We're learning every single day and we feel like there will be a solution in the pipeline at some point, but at the moment, we're sort of stuck with what we've got."

"Everybody's digging deep, and I think days like [Friday qualifying] will make us stronger in the long run.”

Mercedes are struggling to fix a few key issues with their 2022 challenger. However, Russell has managed to put in some great performances to bring home valuable points and keep up the team’s morale.

Despite setbacks during Friday's qualifying and the subsequent Sprint race at Imola, he managed to recover in the main race on Sunday. In doing so, he maintained his record of having finished within the top 5 in every race so far this season.

Russell feels some of Mercedes’ struggles are exaggerated by the car’s lack of performance. He stated that when the car is not quick, everything tends to work out against them.

Russell said:

“When the car isn't quick enough, everything goes against you: strategy isn't necessarily the best, luck isn't on your side, everything sort of goes against you.

"Whereas when the car's quick, the strategy is always amazing, luck is always on your side, and everything just goes in your favour, so that's the fact of the matter, and we just need to find more performance."

---

Mercedes losing single-lap performance due to tire warm up issues

George Russell says the cooler conditions at Imola GP qualifying exposed a second major weakness of the W13 – tire warm up.

The car seems unable to generate enough heat into its tires quickly, costing the team a lot of single-lap performance, according to Russell.

Speaking to RN365, he said:

"It's been clear all year that we've struggled a bit with warm-up, and the nature of these first four races, it progressively got a little bit cooler every race.

"Bahrain is notoriously a very aggressive circuit, and then we went to [Jedda] where it was a lot smoother, racing in the night, Melbourne was a bit cooler, and then [in Imola] it was 13 degrees."

The W13’s inability to warm up its tires quickly may be losing valuable performance over a single lap. However, it also seems to be helping it manage its tires over a Grand Prix distance.

Compared to Haas and Alpine, who displayed impressive pace during qualifying but struggled with tire degradation during longer stints, Mercedes displayed superior race pace with very little degradation.