"We didn't expect to be that far behind the leader"- Mercedes' weakness 'exposed' by F1 Japanese GP's track, feels George Russell

George Russell admitted after a tough weekend in Suzuka that the team did not expect to struggle this much. He could only qualify in P8, while teammate Lewis Hamilton could only salvage a P6 result. Talking to the media after the race, George Russell stated that he did not expect the team to struggle this much as compared to the leaders.

The Mercedes driver put the deficit down to long straights and the car's lack of straight-line speed to compete. He said,

"We've known this year we've not had the most efficient car, very draggy, and this is the first high downforce circuit where you have long straights as well. Normally when you look at high downforce circuits, the straights are relatively small and there's not that chance to get those straight-line deltas as well. I think we're probably losing seven or eight-tenths to Red Bull in the straights today, and the circuit has exposed that weakness of ours."

Mercedes might not have expected to fight for pole position at Suzuka. However, the level of deficit was surprising for George Russell, as Alpine was also quicker in qualifying. He said,

"We definitely didn't expect it to be in the fight for pole. I think we've learned that by now, we need specific circuits to be in the fight for pole position. But certainly, we didn't expect to be that far behind the leader and that far behind the Alpines. But it's not the first time this season. There's quite a theme that we have difficult Saturdays."

George Russell reflects on a disappointing race

George Russell had a disappointing race for Mercedes. The driver struggled as he was forced to double stack behind his teammate, and that cost him multiple positions. In the end, he could only salvage a P8 result after losing out to Fernando Alonso on fresh tires at the end of the race. Russell was admittedly disappointed and felt there was a better result on the table. He said,

"We need to review and see what we could have done better today. I think we had a stronger car than the result reflects, and that we could have been P6 today. I think that stacking in the pit lane cost me positions, and that made it a frustrating afternoon, so we need to look at it and see what the other options were. I made some good overtakes after that - but it was a case of trying to recover what we had lost."

George Russell now finds himself 4th in the championship, but the gap to P3 has now increased to a whopping 45 points. The driver will be hoping to make a stronger impact at the next race in Austin.