George Russell has told Mercedes it must be prepared for a "painful few weeks" as it continues to struggle with its W15.
In Miami, Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton were unable to score points in the sprint race from 11th and 12th on the grid, although they did improve their starting positions for the main race, locking out the fourth row.
During the race, Hamilton made his way to up sixth and enjoyed the rare battle against the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, but agreed with Russell that the team had work to do to its car.
Mercedes is enduring its worst-start to a season since 2012, when it had 61 points after six rounds, with the team on 64 points after the Miami race, but it is still yet to score a podium finish.
Russell does not expect the team's fortunes to change in the immediate future.
"McLaren qualified P17 and P18 12 months ago in Miami, and they won, so it shows what is possible when you get things right," Russell told media including RacingNews365.
"But right now, we don't have things right and need to make changes quickly.
"We do have a few things coming in the short-term but nothing in the short-term that is going to transform us into race-winners.
"So it is going to be painful for a few weeks. I think we have to accept that we are the fourth fastest-team.
"The lap-times and the championship don't lie, this is where we are and I think we're fighting for the P5-P8 region week in, week out."
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As for his race, Russell recorded his worst finish of 2024 in eighth place, finishing behind the RB of Yuki Tsunoda.
He described the W15 as just having "no grip" with an off-feeling in the car.
"Something just didn't feel right, the car car just had no grip, no pace and I was slower than Yuki for the whole of the last stint.
"It is swings and roundabouts for us at the moment, a good day is P5 and a bad day is P8, and it was a bad day so we finished P8."
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