Mercedes exposed by ‘flattering’ F1 form after Abu Dhabi setback

George Russell has stated Mercedes’ recent strong run of form created a sense of false optimism regarding the potential of its car.

Mercedes endured an uptick in form in the middle of the season and won three grands prix before slipping back in the order.

However, it prevailed in Las Vegas last month with a strong one-two finish, while Russell was in contention for a podium last time out in Qatar.

Russell ended Q3 in Abu Dhabi in seventh place while team-mate Lewis Hamilton exited Q1 following a bizarre incident with a bollard.

The Briton acknowledged Mercedes likely got lost in trying to fix the concerns it had with the car in FP3. 

“There was a lot done to the car, and we were trying a lot of things, and we think that’s where we maybe got a bit lost with ourselves,” he said.

“But we reversed on all of all of those items and still didn’t really seem to have the pace.

“We need to do a thorough check of everything, make sure floors haven’t lost stiffness, bits and pieces like that.”

Amid the pace setback in Abu Dhabi, Russell suggested it did not come as a total surprise for the German manufacturer.

“I’m not too concerned,” he said. “We’ve had a hell of a run recently, maybe flattered ourselves a bit in the last four or five races. We were bound to have a race that we dropped back.

“And we always thought on paper this would be the one where we’re not going to be in the front.”