Russell buoyed by Mercedes progress despite US struggle

George Russell feels the pace shown by the upgraded Mercedes in the United States "bodes well" for the remainder of the season.

The upgraded floor introduced in Austin - which RacingNews365's Paolo Filisetti analyses here - was the final big upgrade the team will introduce to the W14, which proved closest challenger to the Red Bull in the race itself, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton finishing second on the road.

He was subsequently disqualified for excessive plank wear as Russell was promoted to a fifth-place finish having struggled throughout the race after Charles Leclerc was also expunged from the results for a similar offence.

Despite the struggles of his race, Russell was buoyed by the pace of the W14 as Mercedes looks to win a race this season to keep intact its run of at least one grand prix win every season since 2012.

Russell encouraged over Mercedes upgrades

"The upgrades were definitely performing really well," Russell told media including RacingNews365 of the new floor to the W14.

"It was clear that with the performance we had some limitations on my side.

"I didn't have enough fuel and was having to manage that for half the race and it really put me on the backfoot, but in the last stint, we just went for it and the pace was probably the strongest out there, which definitely bodes well for the reason of the season."

Russell - who has just one podium finish to his name in 2023 - also touched on the disqualification of Hamilton from the race, simply conceding that Mercedes got its set-up "very wrong."

"It is a very different layout here obviously, and with the one session in Austin, we did all of the standard checks after FP1 and the plank looked absolutely fine," he explained.

"There was no reason after the practice session to make any changes, but obviously, we got that very wrong.

"I expect the nature of this circuit to be naturally more conservative, and with the three practice sessions, I don't forsee any issues."