George Russell thinks that Mercedes need to find additional downforce in order to be more competitive in low-speed corners. The team had had an encouraging Spanish Grand Prix weekend, in which Russell finished third and teammate Lewis Hamilton had scythed his way through the field to claim P5 after dropping to the back with a Lap 1 puncture. However, the Silver Arrows slipped back in competitiveness at Monaco, and Russell noted that the slow-speed circuit had emphasised the difficulties with the W13. "I think we just need to find a bit more downforce," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.com . "We haven't been awfully competitive in low-speed corners, especially when we look at Barcelona, we were the quickest in the high-speed [corners] and then down the straight, so complete opposite to what Monaco offers. "We need to find a bit more pace in qualifying. We can't afford to keep having an Alpine or McLaren jump us, but we've still got an enough pace to come back through, just not enough pace to fight with Ferrari and Red Bull just yet."
Monaco bumps making handling worse, says Hamilton
Russell's thoughts echo those of Hamilton, who said he had anticipated a more difficult weekend in Monaco after the promise of Barcelona, and noted that the bumps on the Monaco street circuit had made life especially difficult. "I kind of expected it," said Hamilton of the W13's poor performance at Monte Carlo. "We weren't very good in low-speed [sections] in [the] last race anyway. "In the race it was okay, but not on a single lap, so we anticipated it would be difficult here. "But it's worse than we anticipated because of the bumps, it's just super-bouncy for us, everywhere, slow, medium and high speed. Very challenging."
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