"The most severe I’ve experienced" - George Russell says he is "porpoising pretty bad" in the F1 Australian GP

George Russell was particularly downbeat after another underwhelming day for Mercedes. The two drivers languished in 11th and 13th in FP2 as multiple midfield teams like Alpine, McLaren and Alfa Romeo put together a faster time.

Reflecting on the day, Russell pointed out that porpoising in Turn 9 as one of the major issues affecting the car. He said:

“We’re definitely porpoising pretty bad into Turn 9. It’s probably the most severe I’ve experienced but it’s something that we have to deal with for the time being. We believe that’s the fastest way around the track, but maybe it’s not. We need to keep digging into the data and understand. We’ve sort of gone from left, right, and centre with the setup and all have resulted in a similar outcome. So we need to try and get on top of things and understand why.”

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George Russell: We're not where we want to be

Mercedes has more often than not been the third fastest car on the grid this season. Even in Saudi Arabia, however, George Russell was out-qualified by an Alpine while Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q1.

When questioned on where the team was in terms of the pecking order, Russell sounded worried as multiple midfield teams had put together a lap time that was faster than the Mercedes duo. The young Briton said:

“We’re not in the position where we want to be. There’s quite a few midfield cars ahead of us and obviously we’re quite a long way off the pace from the front. So we need to work hard tonight, understand the limitations.”

When questioned on where he felt the car faced a deficit, Russell was quick to point out that the car didn't feel too bad. The experience on the soft tire, however, was a bit strange for the driver as the times would consistently keep on improving every lap. He said:

“The car felt alright, it didn’t feel too bad. It was a bit strange on my soft tyre, I kept on improving and improving. I know a few drivers did that but it seemed a little bit more extravagant from our side of things.”

Mercedes is on the backfoot for the first time since F1 moved to turbo-hybrids in 2014. The team is already 40 points behind Ferrari in the constructors' championship and the gap is only going to get bigger if the situation does not improve.