Mercedes: Early-season struggles to continue in Australia after George Russell update

Mercedes driver George Russell says that he thinks this weekend will probably follow a similar pattern to the last couple for the team, in terms of their level of performance.

The Briton will probably wonder just when his luck is going to turn, with him joining an all-conquering Mercedes team right at the moment they appear to have gone slightly off of the boil.

That is motor racing, though, and sometimes it can happen to a driver, though Russell of course has bags of time to still be challenging for victories and, of course, he is in a team that will be working around the clock to get back to the very forefront of the grid.

In that sense, then, he is still in a very good place to be going for race victories and titles in time, and will feel Mercedes is the team for him, but he admits a turnaround in performance this weekend might be difficult to envisage:

“I think will be very similar, to be honest; I don’t see any reason why we will make any strides forward.

“We’re definitely the third-fastest team at the moment, [and we’re] closer to the fourth than second.

“It’s going to be more of the same [level of performance] in the coming races.”

It does appear, then, that Ferrari and Red Bull’s exclusive party out in front will continue in Melbourne, whilst Mercedes will be continuing to look over their shoulder for now.

Alpine, Haas and Alfa Romeo all look as though they have the pace to give the Silver Arrows headaches at the top end of the midfield and those three teams will be eager to underline that again this weekend in Albert Park.

For Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton, then, another weekend of trying to just optimise the car as much as they possibly can awaits.