Russell hopes Mercedes woe a 'substantial one-off'

George Russell is hopeful that Mercedes' lack of performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix was a “substantial one-off” for the team.

Mercedes lacked pace throughout the weekend and, during the main race, it could only compete at the lower end of the point-scoring positions.

Russell was forced to retire his car late on as Mercedes uncovered an issue with his power unit while team-mate Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in only eighth place, with Team Principal Toto Wolff describing the weekend as Mercedes' worst since it returned to the Formula 1 grid in 2010.

Having been left mystified by the car's sudden drop in pace, Russell is confident that its deficit won't be repeated in the remaining two races this year.

'So many question marks'

“There's so many question marks,” Russell told media including RacingNews365.com.

“It's the exact same race car as what we've had since Austin, where the car has been capable of podiums every race, even before in Singapore and Qatar, [it was] capable from the podiums.

“This is clearly a substantial one-off event but we need to understand what we got wrong.”

Mercedes also suffered from a lack of straight-line speed due to its wing set-up, but head of the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, Russell assured: “We will be on a totally different rear wing so I don't expect to be the quickest [in a straight line].

“Red Bull are still the most competitive along with Williams. But I’d be surprised if it was the same position.”