Russell Acknowledges Red Bull's Dominance and Reveals Mercedes' Weakness

Red Bull are currently the best team in Formula 1, and Mercedes must find a way to get the most out of their latest upgrades, just as Max Verstappen has done. That was the assessment of Mercedes driver George Russell following the Singapore Grand Prix.

Russell finished ninth in the race after receiving a penalty, while his young Italian team-mate Kimi Antonelli secured third place on the podium.

Verstappen has won the last two races, in Sepang and Singapore, with Red Bull's advantage appearing significant and consistent across different circuits.

“The figures suggest the car is performing as expected, but the lap time isn't good. We need to try to understand how to make the system work better,” Russell told Motorsport.

“The most important thing for us as a team is to understand how to improve our performance, because Red Bull have been simply impressive over the last three weeks. They've done it on circuits with different characteristics, so we can judge that they are the best team at the moment.”

According to the Briton, Mercedes' main problem is not a lack of technical resources, but the team's inability to adapt its latest upgrade package properly to the car's behaviour.

“I think we're simply not getting the most out of the new upgrade package. Red Bull have taken a huge step forward and Max feels very comfortable in the car. He's getting the maximum out of it. We're just trying to understand how to make the best use of the new parts,” Russell added.

As the battle at the front of Formula 1 intensifies, Mercedes' engineers will need to find a solution quickly if they are to close the gap to Red Bull's impressive pace.