George Russell compares new Mercedes car to ‘lame horse’

Mercedes driver George Russell has compared driving the W14 Mercedes car to riding a “lame horse”, in a recent interview with the German publication Bild.

For the second successive year, Mercedes’ car hasn’t been up to scatch; the team went into panic mode after the first race of the season in Bahrain in March, where they found themselves six-tenths away from pole position. Russell finished P7 and his teammate Lewis Hamilton finished P5.

Team principal Toto Wolff admitted they had followed the wrong development path with the W14 and changes were swiftly implemented. Performances improved in the next two races, with Russell just finishing outside podium places in the Saudi Arabia race and Hamilton finishing the Melbourne GP in P2.

Russell said that comfort, rather than speed, is the issue with the W14.

“It is comparable to riding a horse. A Mercedes is a faster horse than a Williams. Riding a horse from A to B and it doesn’t zig is like sitting in a Formula 1 car that suits your driving style. One merges into another,” he said.

“We currently have a lame horse. We know it has a lot of power in it, but it isn't happy that anyone wants to ride it, nor does it suit the way it's riding. It still has a mind of its own that sometimes risks throwing you off. We still have to get used to each other and develop it to make it fast and tame,” he said.

Speaking after the Bahrain GP, Russell told Sky Sports F-1 that they’d overshot in their course correction from last year’s car. The W13 had high bounce and aggressiveness while the W14 lacks bounce and performance.

It’s been a bumpy ride for Russell since his move from Williams to Mercedes, but he said he had no regrets about the move.

“In Formula 1 there is only one driver on a team who is happy: the one who won last. We will be doing this more often in the future because Mercedes has the best mechanics and engineers,” he said.

“I was relieved when I came to the factory after the start of the season and saw how hard everyone is working. No panic, no chaos. All are focused on solutions. I didn't expect otherwise, but it reassured me that if I had to pick one place for the next 15 years, it would undoubtedly be Mercedes”.