Russell not overly confident Mercedes' updates and new sidepods will work in Monaco

Driver George Russell has expressed scepticism about Mercedes' ability to gain valuable insights from their upgrade package introduced at the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.

With the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna GP, Mercedes decided to implement comprehensive car updates in Monaco instead.

The eagerly anticipated modifications depart from their renowned 'zero sidepod' bodywork design, along with front suspension adjustments.

Considering the idiosyncratic nature of the Circuit de Monaco, it would have been understandable for Mercedes to postpone their updates until the next conventional race in Barcelona.

The right call

However, Russell, in his own words, clarified that while the team does not anticipate extracting significant information from the race weekend, it was the right call not to leave any potential performance gains unexplored.

"We're obviously aware that this is a very unique circuit, and we're not going to really glean anything from the performance of the new updates this weekend," Russell said during a media interaction in Monaco.

"Teams tend to either excel or struggle around Monaco, but the car isn't designed to reach its peak here. So, we won't learn much from a race weekend like this."

Russell emphasized that the insights obtained during the weekend would be taken with a pinch of salt, and the team would approach the subsequent race in Barcelona with a fresh perspective.

"Monaco presents great challenges. Last year, everyone faced difficulties with these new cars as the ride quality is noticeably poorer compared to the era of 13-inch tires.

"But we won't simply discard performance updates. It might be a bold move, but it was always the plan to run this package in Monaco," Russell concluded.