George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have expressed optimism that there will probably be way more to return from Mercedes because the 2024 season develops, saying the W15 has proven indicators of being a “genuinely fast” automotive with “a whole lot of potential”.
Mercedes entered the yr trying to proper the wrongs of 2022 and 2023, with the Silver Arrows up to now struggling to make an influence beneath F1’s newest floor impact period and scoring only one win throughout these two campaigns.
READ MORE: Perez admits it might be ‘a blow for the workforce’ if Verstappen leaves Purple Bull amid driver market rumours
After loads of modifications to their package deal over the winter, the early indicators had been encouraging as Hamilton and Russell topped the primary day of follow on the Bahrain opener and the latter secured a spot on the second row of the grid, solely falling out of podium rivalry on race day amid automotive cooling points.
Whereas Mercedes discovered the second spherical of the season at Saudi Arabia’s ultra-fast Jeddah Corniche Circuit tougher, dropping out to Purple Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin throughout qualifying and the race, each drivers really feel they’ve a robust base to work with within the W15 and anticipate to unlock extra efficiency sooner or later.
“I believe you’ve solely received to take a look at the potential and the efficiency we confirmed in FP1 and FP2 within the final two races,” mentioned Russell. “We had been genuinely fast and the efficiency went away from us into qualifying – we’ve some concepts why which will have been.
“I believe it’s additionally vital simply to recollect we’ve solely performed three days of follow, and two races, and I believe for those who examine that to a soccer workforce – in the event that they’ve performed three days of coaching collectively the primary two video games of the season they’ll nonetheless be understanding tips on how to get essentially the most out of one another and maximise the workforce.
READ MORE: Sainz shares restoration replace forward of return to motion in Australia after doing ‘as a lot as doable’
“So, that’s form of the place we’re standing proper now and it’s so shut on the market between the 4 groups after Purple Bull, so it might probably simply swing.”
Hamilton, who will head to Ferrari on the finish of the season, echoed Russell’s feedback as he denied that Mercedes are coping with a automotive as difficult as its W14 and W13 predecessors.
“It’s positively not the evil sister or something like that,” the seven-time world champion confused. “I believe we’ve a tremendous automotive and there’s a whole lot of potential in it, and I believe we simply haven’t maximised it by means of set-up and thru, finally, errors.
“We had been clearly not pleased with the efficiency of these first couple of races however I believe there’s much more potential in it that we haven’t fairly extracted but. That’s what everybody’s focus is on, simply attempting to know the automotive, and we’re hoping this weekend is a step ahead.
READ MORE: Magnussen admits 10-year look forward to podium return ‘irritating’ as he displays on maiden debut rostrum in Australia
“An enormous quantity of labor has gone on – everybody’s heads are down within the numbers and I really feel constructive for this weekend. We’ve had two not such nice races however there’s a good distance forward.”
Mercedes sit fourth within the constructors’ standings on 26 factors forward of the Australian Grand Prix, two behind McLaren, 23 behind Ferrari and 61 adrift of leaders Purple Bull.
