George Russell unable to answer question on key Mercedes failure

George Russell is at a loss to explain what Mercedes has missed compared to Red Bull and McLaren over the contemporary ground effects era of F1.

It has been a frustrating four seasons for the eight-time constructors' champions, filled with false dawns, disproven concepts and a fundamental inability, like many teams, to get on top of the regulations.

Whilst understanding the rules and the delicate balance between conventional aerodynamics and the relationship it has to the car's floor is one thing, delivering it on track has been another, and Mercedes has fallen short.

The Brackley-based squad has not been able to fight for championships since the start of 2022, finishing third, second, fourth and second again — its 2025 result — in the standings since that first year.

The team failed to take a victory in 2023, but dropped two spots despite winning four times the following year, underlining the inconsistency up and down the paddock.

When asked what Mercedes had missed relative to the two teams that dominated the era, Russell was unable to explain where opportunities had passed the team by.

"I think it's been an extremely challenging set of regs, to be honest," the British driver told media, including RacingNews365.

"And obviously, this second half of the year, Red Bull has been on a very high level. But if I were to answer that question at the summer break, I would have argued that we were at a similar level to Red Bull.

"And if you compare that to '23 — Aston Martin was ahead of us and Ferrari, and dropped off. McLaren was nowhere, and obviously just found something pretty spectacular.

"So, I can't really answer that question – what it is we've missed."

Wrong place, wrong path

When the teams unveiled their cars at the start of 2022, Mercedes had adopted a drastically different philosophy, the radical no-pod approach.

Other outfits had arrived at the idea already, but moved past it, realising it was fatally flawed. It suggested the Toto Wolff-led squad was behind the development curve.

The team spent over a year trying to make it work, with Russell's maiden grand prix victory late that first season delaying the inevitable switch away from the idea.

The five-time grand prix winner highlighted how this process was critical in preventing Mercedes from meeting expectations, but does not believe that it will adversely affect things as a new era arrives.

"I think it's probably more where we started," he explained. "I think we probably started in the wrong place and led ourselves down the wrong path and then had to revert.

"And clearly Red Bull, out of the blocks, had the least amount of porpoising in ’22 and almost had a six- or eight-month head start on everybody while we were trying to work that out.

"So, I don't think this regulation is really going to have any impact on the next set of regs, because the issues are going to be totally different."