F1 star George Russell has explained what Mercedes got wrong in 2022 and issued a warning to top dogs Red Bull ahead of next season.
When the W13 was unveiled at the former constructor's car launch earlier this year, there was much optimism among the team and its fans.
But it was soon dashed as porpoising proved to be Mercedes’ biggest weakness in the early part of the year. That hindered the form of both Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton, before further issues came to light once the bouncing became less of a problem.
The second half of the season was more successful, as the 24-year-old achieved the sole victory this year for Mercedes at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Russell was still relatively consistent in his debut season at the Silver Arrows and finished fourth in the drivers standings, two places and 35 points above teammate Hamilton.
Reflecting on an overall frustrating season and the motivation for next year, Russell told BBC Radio Norfolk : "They haven't forgotten how to build a fast race car. We just got it wrong this year.
"We got the philosophy wrong. We went down a route which turned out to be the wrong route. Sometimes it takes you a long time to dig yourself out of that hole. Now I feel we've dug ourselves out of that hole and we're building on top of that.”
He added: "We are a step behind Red Bull and Ferrari and we've got a lot of catching up to do. But we're definitely going to be in a much stronger position from race one next year than we were this year."
Despite making improvements as the season wore on, Mercedes were still a step behind Ferrari and champions Red Bull and a far cry from the dominance they've shown over most of the last decade. But Russell issued a confident message for his rivals and believes his team will give them much more to ponder next season.
As he heads into his second year at Mercedes, Russell is aware he has to keep "raising the bar" in terms of his own performance and contribution to the team.
"If you'd told me at the start of the year that I'd be finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton [in the drivers' standings], I'd have been very happy because nine times out of 10 that probably means you're going to be world champion," he said.
"It's a little bit frustrating that this year wasn't that year. We were both fighting for P4, P5, P6 and we don't want to be in this position, so I'm not going to walk away from this season with huge amounts of pride because I finished fourth in the championship. I'm here to win."
