Mercedes is a second behind Red Bull on qualifying and race pace, said George Russell after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Russell finished fifth in Jeddah, having spent much of the race, essentially, alone on track. He crossed the line 32.732 seconds after winner Max Verstappen, which he said he believed represented the Mercedes pace, relative to Red Bull.
“I think we have a better handle on the race pace than we do quali pace,” said Russell. “But the inherent issues are still there – low fuel, high fuel – and that’s compromising us.
“So when I look at the result, we finished 30 seconds behind, I think that’s probably 30 laps after the safety car, a second a lap. That’s how far we were behind in qualifying, as well.”
Russell said he and Lewis Hamilton have explored different set-up directions as the team try to solve the problems with their 2022 car. “I think on Lewis’s side of the garage they probably went a bit more conservative with the set-up than we did and…