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George Russell has offered hope for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton after their below-par performance compared to Ferrari and Red Bull's during pre-season testing this week as he backed the team to get to the bottom of their issues. Russell went fourth fastest on the final testing day before next weekend's 2022 curtain-raiser at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Despite using the same C5 tyre as Max Verstappen, the Dutch world champion's best lap was over a whole second quicker than Russell's.

The 24-year-old was also bettered by Haas' Michael Schumacher, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Alpine's Fernando Alonso.

All three were on the softer C4 tyre, which indicates a few tenths advantage over the Silver Arrows.

However, Russell has poured cold water on claims that Ferrari and Red Bull's performance was levels above Mercedes'