George Russell admitted there is "a lot of expectation" around Mercedes at this weekend's French Grand Prix.
It has largely been a season to forget so far for the Silver Arrows. Used to being the front-runners, they have tried to adapt to a car which has so far proven itself to be incapable of challenging for victories, instead running behind leaders Red Bull and Ferrari.
Some good results have still been obtained, though, with both Russell and Lewis Hamilton scoring points and reaching the podium at times. And those strong finishes have been coming along more often in recent weeks, thanks to major improvements to the W13.
That resurgence, coupled with the fact that those cars have been by far the most reliable on the grid so far in 2022, has some people convinced they will be in the mix to win in France this weekend. Russell is keen to see what he can do with the latest raft of upgrades to his car, but is still surprised by being tipped for success.
"There's a lot of expectation on Mercedes this weekend – not too sure where that's come from," the young Brit told reporters. "But we're definitely improving the car and we're closing that gap [to Ferrari and Red Bull].
"'It's going to be hot, which I think favours us slightly again. Yes, we'll be going for it but realistically, if we do everything perfectly I think we'll be a tenth behind, two-tenths behind Ferrari and Red Bull."
Despite that slightly more pessimistic outlook, Russell is still much happier with his car than at any point in the season to date. He feels Mercedes have now reached the turning point where engineers can finally focus purely on performance rather than fixing mistakes made in the initial design process.
"I think this is the first time this season we truly understand the car and we understand what needs to change to make the car go faster," he added. "Whereas we spent so long trying to understand what the problems were, how to resolve that and not necessarily making the car go any faster.
"We knew after the first test it was going to be a tricky start to the season, but now I think we feel in a good place as a team... We can build off this and make some good strides."
