Russell predicts that Mercedes will “struggle” in the Japanese GP

Despite his optimism, George Russell thinks Mercedes this weekend may struggle in the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Japanese Grand Prix, in George Russell’s opinion, might be a “challenge” for the Mercedes Formula 1 team due to the Suzuka track’s unique features.

With high-speed, rough configurations being a disadvantage of the W13, Mercedes has done best on high-downforce courses like Budapest or Zandvoort in 2022.

Suzuka, where the squad has an undefeated record in six races dating back to the introduction of the turbo hybrids in 2014, is solidly in the latter camp.

Russell thinks the team, which is currently experiencing its first winless race since 2011, would be unlikely to pick up a seventh victory despite the form-book.

Russell on Mercedes’s difficulty

In interviews with the media, including RacingNews365.com prior of his second Japanese GP, Russell said, “I’d love for it to be as competitive as it was last weekend [in Singapore].

“But I think it’d be a little bit more of a struggle.

“Ferrari are very fast in the corners, and the Red Bull was a slippery down the straights, which obviously with the one DRS zone here (on the main straight), they’ll be in a good place as well.

“It’s not going to be straight-forward, but I think we’ve shown good pace on a Sunday and there’s no reason why we can’t here.”

Post-vacation races are beneficial

Mercedes has been leveraging competitions to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the package since the summer vacation.

After earning two podium finishes in the Netherlands and Italy, Russell stated, “I think that the races after the summer break have indeed been great.”

“We’re getting a really clear trend where our car is working well, where it’s not working well, and it’s given us a really clear development direction to go down.

“So I think it is a shame for us as a team not to have capitalised on that, because I think we all felt that.

“But for sure, there’s still a lot of positive signs to take away, especially that we really struggled on street circuits at the start of the year, and arguably last week was probably the fastest race weekend we’ve had.”

Below are some of the most well-known FORMULA 1 drivers’ apparels, all of which are available at reasonable costs. Visit our link now if you are interested in the racing clothing collection:

F1, F1 2022, Formula 1, Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Silver Arrows, George Russell, Japanese GP