According to George Russell, Mercedes will also move from fifth to eighth place in the next races.
George Russell finished eighth in Miami. He was beaten by Júki Cunoda and finished ahead of Piastri, who had to pit with a damaged wing. Although Piastri finished outside the points, we mention him as a driver from the first three teams.
“Something didn’t sit right with my car,” said Russell, as quoted by Adam Cooper’s website. “I just had no grip, no pace. I was slower than Jūki the whole last stint. We need to find out what happened.’
“To be honest, I really don’t know, it’s a bit of a rollercoaster for us at the moment. When we have a good day we are five and when we have a bad day we are eight. Today was a bad day and we ended up in eighth place.”
Russell believes Lando Norris’ win shows that teams can improve relatively quickly. McLaren were in a bad way at the start of last season. But then the upgrades came and the team was suddenly fighting for podiums. He put on another big pack in Miami, estimated to have gained up to 4 tenths of a second per lap. Norris was helped by the safety car, but that doesn’t change the fact that McLaren was fast in Miami.
“McLaren qualified 17th and 18th in Miami 12 months ago and won today. It shows what is possible when you do things right. But things are not right at the moment and we need to make changes quickly.”
“We have a few things coming up in the short term, but nothing that will make us a race winner right now. I think we have to accept that we are the fourth fastest team at the moment – the lap times don’t lie, the championship doesn’t lie. This is where we are. Like I said, I think we’re now fighting for the area between fifth and eighth place week in and week out.”
