George Russell explains what went wrong with the development of the 2023 F1 Mercedes challenger

George Russell feels that Mercedes 'overshot' the design of the W14 in one particular direction and made the car too conservative, and hence the performance has been compromised.

After the recent race in Bahrain, Mercedes do not look any more competitive than they were last season with the W13, despite the initial expectations for the W14. There has been rigorous analysis and research by the team into the weakness of the car ahead of the race weekend in Jeddah. Though the design of the car seems largely to blame, the team is continuing to plug away with research into the car's issues.

George Russell, on the other hand, feels like the team has made a conservative design learning from their mistakes in the 2022 season. He feels that the team has overworked themselves in the development of the W14 and put in too much downforce to fight the porpoising issue.

"I think when you look at, let’s say, W13 we were clearly too aggressive with the car design and the bouncing, and that was our big limitation. Fast forward 12 months and we wanted to be in a position where we’re not experiencing any of this."

George Russell is of the belief that the new regulations from the FIA that were introduced during the winter break (increased ride height of the cars to battle the porpoising) were enough to fight the problem Mercedes had. However, because they have stuck to their initial concept, the performance has come at a cost.

"And we’ve probably equally overshot in the opposite direction, compromised too much performance, too much downforce for the lack of bouncing to learn that probably the changes that the FIA implemented over the winter solved the majority of our problems."

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George Russell feels that the team can 'recover' the performance they have lost from the W14

Mercedes have been focused on the future of their development strategy and George Russell believes that this could lead to a substantial recovery in their performance, leading to the W14 becoming a more competitive member on the grid.

Though he is not completely sure about the car's 'philosophy,' he feels that they can recover from their current performance.

"That being said, we can probably recover some of that lost performance from being too conservative. Is it for one second, we’re looking for compared to Red Bull? No, it’s not. Do we think we’re on the right track with our philosophy? Probably not either."

Lewis Hamilton earlier suggested that the team is around 1.5 seconds behind Red Bull, who are currently leading the grid. While this might not be the perfect season for the team, they can be expected to pick up the pace from their ongoing developmental strategies.