Russell hints at Mercedes resurgence: "More pace this weekend"

George Russell has hinted that Mercedes have more pace to unlock for the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. During testing at the same venue, it looked as though Mercedes were lagging behind Red Bull and Ferrari, and potentially even Aston Martin. 

During the Bahrain Grand Prix Thursday press conference, Russell informed that he travelled back to the United Kingdom in the week between testing and the race weekend. Russell explained that he worked on the simulator and believes the learnings have allowed the team to find more pace. 

"The mood in the camp is good, it was a good test and we learnt a lot. We learnt that Red Bull are looking really strong but there's a lot of room where we can improve. We can bring more pace this weekend after the learnings of testing but it will be a challenging weekend to fight for that victory. We probably knew that ahead of the season," Russell said in a press conference attended by GPblog.  

Fighting for P2

Russell is now preapring to start his second season at Mercedes. When signing his contract, he would've expected to fight for the World Championship but the team missed the mark when the rules and regulation changes were introduced. A year on, Mercedes are still trying to climb back to the top of the grid but expect a challenge from another team. 

"The fact is we will find out this weekend where we fall. Testing is a good indication for all of us but until we get to qualifying or the race we will have no idea. Some teams were surprising, some teams were fast on a single lap, and some teams looked faster on the long run. Red Bull are in a league of their own but it will be a nice fight for second between Ferrari and Aston Martin," Russell added.