George Russell to work with a new Mercedes race engineer in 2023

George Russell will have a new racing engineer at Mercedes this season as Marcus Dudley replaces Riccardo Musconi this season. Dudley has been a part of the Mercedes setup for a long time and has deputized in the past for Pete Bonington, Lewis Hamilton's racing engineer. Ironically, Dudley was George Russell's race engineer in his sole race win in Brazil last season.

The duo will surely share fond memories of the day and will be starting the season on a positive note by the looks of it. Talking about the 2023 F1 season, George Russell wasn't as optimistic about the team's prospects at the start of the season.

The Mercedes driver feels that the car is still not at the level of a Red Bull and there's certainly a lot of work that needs to be done. Speaking to the media after the pre-season tests, George Russell said:

"I think we definitely believe eventually we will have a car capable of getting in that fight. Whether we are going to have that next weekend in Bahrain, I think may be a bit of a stretch. Red Bull look very strong, they look very stable, the car is looking really strong, and obviously Max [Verstappen] is performing really well."

He added:

"I think realistically it will be a stretch for next week, but there is no reason why eventually we can't get there at some point this year. And we've always seen the strength of Mercedes and their development rate."

Toto Wolff appears more optimistic than George Russell about the prospects of the team

Toto Wolff, on the other hand, appeared more optimistic about the prospects of the team than George Russell as he hinted that the team still had unexplored potential. He said:

"The car is out of balance this morning and you can see that driving, we’re leaving black marks on accelerations. It’s hot and we just didn’t find the right setup for these conditions, which is part of the learning, I guess, with the new car."

He added:

"They (Red Bull and Ferrari) are fast. No surprise there. Everybody is playing around with fuel loads and there’s a little bit of hiding on engine modes, so you can’t really judge (who is quickest). We’re still hiding a little bit."

Mercedes will be hoping to put together a much better showing this season as compared to the 2022 F1 season where the team finished behind both Ferrari and Red Bull in the championship.