Painful: Russell sees customer team Aston Martin pass Mercedes

George Russell has joined Mercedes at the wrong time. It will be his second year with the team and just in this year and last, the most dominant team in F1 history has weakened considerably. Russell spoke to the press after Friday's race in Bahrain.

Things are not going well at Mercedes. Teammate Lewis Hamilton seemed frustrated after Friday, claiming the team is back to square one compared to last year. The 2023 season start may or may not be worse than that of 2022 according to the seven-time world champion. Russell seems slightly less concerned, although the Briton also says it does not look good yet.

Formel1.de spoke to the Mercedes driver and writes that there needs to be a close examination of why the team finished P8 and P13 in the second practice. In turn, other teams look extra strong, which is embarrassing for Mercedes. After all, Aston Martin is a customer of the Mercedes works team and looks a lot stronger. Russell: "Aston Martin is obviously the biggest surprise. They did very well over the winter." The task for Mercedes is to get the car in the right 'window'. Russell: "Only then can we unlock the full potential of the car."