Fighting talk from Russell: "I have total faith and confidence" in Mercedes

George Russell benefitted from a late safety car to move ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. The German team managed to pick up good points with a P5 and P6 finish, but couldn't get close to Red Bull or Ferrari in Miami. Russell gave some fighting talk after his race in the United States. 

Confident they'll fix it

Russell has finished inside the top five at every race this season, but he'd have expected better when he signed on the dotted line for Mercedes almost 12 months ago. Whilst the results haven't been as good as they expected, Russell insists that the team will be able to pull it out of the bag soon. 

"We showed on Friday we have a fast car. There is a fast car there, I have total faith and confidence that it is in there somewhere. We need to understand how to unlock it. We can find chunks and chunks of lap time if we just find that killer key to get it in the perfect spot. The guys are working day and night to find a solution," Russell told Sky Sports. 

In the second pre-season test, Mercedes raised eyebrows across the pitlane with a unique car. A zero side pod physiology was revealed, but it doesn't seem to be working as they hoped for. Whilst that might not directly lead to the porpoising issues, there have been questions as to whether Mercedes should scrap it. Russell insists they will keep going down the same road. 

"We have to stick to our guns and keep pushing in this direction, it will be a number of races before we say we need to go another way," Russell concluded.