Russell downplays Mercedes’ Imola upgrade: “Not going to transform things”
Russell finished an impressive fourth in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, two places ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, but lagged over 30 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s dominant Red Bull.
Mercedes are pinning their hopes of closing some of their huge deficit to Red Bull on a much-anticipated upgrade package at the upcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix later this month.
But Russell was quick to caution expectations around the long-awaited updates.
"I am feeling pumped to be honest because it has been a while since we had a good race like that where we made overtakes stick,” Russell said.
“The pace, relatively speaking, was strong and I felt good in the car so for sure it was a satisfying one.
"I would have liked to have been three positions higher but we know the position we are as a team right now and P4 was the maximum today.
"It was a good day at the office and will sit down with everybody tomorrow to see how we can move from here.
"There is a lot of expectations on Imola but at the end off the day, we finished 30-odd seconds behind the leaders today and we still finished quite a bit behind Fernando.
"I am sure it is going to take a step in the right direction but it is not going to transform things. Let's hope it does.
"The car is a little unpredictable at the moment so hopefully it exceeds our expectations in the next race but it is going to be a long journey.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff echoed Russell’s comments.
“I hope that in Imola we are going to make a step,” he said. “But at the same time we are glass half-empty people and I don't want to go to anyone and say we are half a second quicker.
"We are establishing a new baseline."
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