George Russell is confident that Mercedes will make gains over the winter break following a disappointing campaign this year.
The Brackley-based squad endured its first winless season since 2011 as rivals Red Bull dominated the year, triumphing at 20 out of the 21 rounds.
New technical regulations introduced last year saw Mercedes slip back in the pecking order having enjoyed several consecutive years of championship success.
Mercedes opted to change the development direction of its car after accepting that its original concept wouldn't return it to a front-running position.
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It ended this year's campaign second in the Constructors' Championship, with Russell admitting that the W14 was a more comfortable car to drive than its predecessor.
“Last year was definitely a trickier car to drive,” Russell told media including RacingNews365.com.
“But as if it was for many teams, we made some big improvements but what has caught us out this year and stemmed from the winter development.
“We took the wrong direction. We made some mistakes and that was evident as soon as we hit the track in Bahrain.”
With a large gap to close to Red Bull, Russell is confident that Mercedes will make gains ahead of the new campaign - but was cautious over predicting its pecking order position.
“Going into the third year now, I'm confident we're not going to make those same mistakes,” Russell asserted.
“I'm confident we've got some good gains over this winter, we're finding them at the moment.
“But at the end of the day it’s a relative game, and we don't know what our rivals are going to bring.”
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