Mercedes left with no illusions after latest disappointment

MIAMI : A good Friday turned into a stinging Sunday for Mercedes at the Miami Grand Prix with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton sweating to fifth and sixth-place finishes, and under no illusions about how far off the pace they remained.

After winning the last eight constructor's titles, Mercedes are well adrift in third place in the standings, already 62 points behind leaders Ferrari and 56 behind second-ranked Red Bull.

Mercedes had shown signs of better performance in Friday's practice sessions, but that proved to be a false dawn with neither of the cars ever in contention to win on the new South Florida track.

"At the end of the day there is no happy moment. We are third quickest on the road and in a way, in no man's land. We had a good Friday, we need to dissect why that was and then come back," said team principal Toto Wolff.

"This is where we are. We are probably not as quick in qualifying sometimes and we have the outliers. But we go back to where we are and that is behind the Red Bulls and Ferrari," he said.

Russell had started 12th on the grid after a disappointing Saturday and moved up well, eventually getting past his team-mate.

"I think it's mixed feelings because based on where we were yesterday today was a good result. But if you'd told me after Friday we'd finish P5 and P6 (fifth and sixth) and that far behind P1 (first), I'd have been pretty disappointed," said Russell.

"We have a fast race car in there, we just don't have the key to unlock performance and we don't really understand why that is. There's work to do," he said.

Russell said the bouncing problem that the cars have been suffering had been better than in Saturday's difficult qualifying.

"It wasn't much nicer today but because the speeds were lower the