George Russell on Mercedes ‘scrutiny’ after ‘bloody challenging’ spell with team

George Russell after the Canadian GP

George Russell sees progress being made at Mercedes after serious “scrutiny” over recent years, as he expressed his hope that the closer competition will continue under the new 2026 regulations.

Mercedes has picked up just the one victory since Formula 1’s ground effect era came to be in 2022, though their impressive performance last time out at the Canadian Grand Prix, where Russell was in contention for the win, marked a major step forward for the Brackley squad.

George Russell admits ‘a lot of scrutiny’ came way of Mercedes

Considering the ground effect regulations marked the end of Mercedes’ dominance, with eight Constructors’ titles in a row having been claimed, Russell admitted that Mercedes have faced “a lot of scrutiny” during this tough spell, though suggested every team not named Red Bull has “had some challenges along the way”.

“If I’m being honest, I think there’s been a lot of scrutiny upon the team in these three years,” Russell told media ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

“I think everybody’s had some challenges along the way. Take Red Bull out of the equation, who have found themselves on a great path and been able to do it.

“But we’ve all found ourselves in catch-up mode. Ferrari were well ahead of us in 2022. They fell behind us in ’23 and now they’re just ahead, but they’re still not fighting for the championship right now.

“And McLaren had a tough couple of years. Now they’re back at the front where they were 15 years ago.

“So as I said, there was a lot of scrutiny on Mercedes about the relative failure that we’ve had. But this is Formula 1, it’s bloody challenging. And there’s so many great teams and designers up and down this field.

“I think we are making progress, but it just never happens overnight. And we saw that during the Mercedes dominance, that these teams behind, Ferrari, Red Bull, they could never just turn it up. Red Bull, how many years before they fought Mercedes for the championship?

“So I think that’s just the sport and I hope 2026, it’s not as variable, because as drivers, you all want kind of an equal opportunity to showcase your abilities and battle it out on track.”

Are Mercedes back in the hunt?

👉 Are Mercedes back? George Russell responds after best result of F1 2024

👉 Why the FIA was right to introduce ‘Kimi Antonelli rule’ with super licence regulation change

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff described it as “zig-zagging” over the years when it came to the team bringing upgrades, creating “false dawns”, though all eyes are now on the Spanish Grand Prix after that Mercedes Canadian GP performance breakthrough.

Russell said the Mercedes “zig-zags” have calmed down over recent years, with the team now understanding that “small changes can bring big performance”.

“I think those zig-zags have maybe reduced in magnitude over these years,” he said.

“So when we first got the car in 2022, we probably made a big change, realised we got it wrong, we went in a big change in the other direction and it’s slowly filtering down to more incremental changes.

“And I think we recognised small changes can bring big performance.

“Everybody is moving forward. And that’s the impressive thing with Formula 1. And let’s hope that is the case because it will be great if you have four teams at the front battling it out in the future.”

Mercedes sit P4 in the current Constructors’ Championship standings with 88 points to make up on McLaren a place ahead.