George Russell missed out on another top three qualifying result with Mercedes on the Baku city circuit. The Brit qualified P5 which was a solid improvement from his P8 FP3 result. After qualifying, Russell discussed the issues he struggled with in the W13 on the challenging street circuit while expressing bewilderment over the continued lack of car performance from Mercedes.   

Russell’s best time of 1:42.712 from pole-sitter Charles Leclerc's 1:41.359 during qualifying was a significant gap that the 24-year-old believes has been the biggest so far this season between Mercedes and the top teams Ferrari and Red Bull. 

“It was an optimised session but being over a second from pole is not where we want to be, it’s probably the biggest gap we’ve seen this year. It’s a tricky circuit, the most amount of ‘real’ corners we’ve experienced this season, so we have lots of work to do,” Russell said.

“The lap felt good, the car felt good but obviously the gap isn’t. We expect so much from ourselves and we’re working so hard to bring more performance, but definitely this weekend has brought out the strengths and the weaknesses from all of us. 

The majority of the F1 teams have experienced some difficulties with porpoising and adjusting to the new technical regulations this season and Russell reveals that the main problem with the W13 involves downforce issues. Despite Mercedes having a solid grasp on what the main problems are with their 2022 challenger, Russell divulges that they still don’t know how to solve them.            

“The feeling inside the car is okay other than down the straights, every single bump is the most rigid I have ever felt from any race car before and I can barely see the braking zone. But through the corners the car feels good, so we know it’s not a balance thing or not getting the car in the right window with the set up - it’s more the downforce. 

“We’re balancing a lot of limitations to try and get the downforce. We know there’s a lot there, but we just don’t know how to extract it.”