Mercedes F1 team has had a shocker of a start to the 2022 season. The 8-time constructor World Champions have struggled to match the pace of the rivals Red Bull and Ferrari. But George Russell believes it is too early to count the German team out of the championship.

Russell revealed that despite their struggles, it is wrong to count them out as challengers in the 2022 season. However, the young British driver did not promise any quick fixes in the upcoming races. This points to the fact that there are some inherent issues with the car, in addition to the engine troubles, that might be affecting them this season.

George Russell shows confidence that Mercedes will bounce back in 2022

For the first time since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014, Mercedes are behind their rivals in terms of pure pace. But this season is a development war between the teams and it would be unwise to count out the German team just yet.

“We’ve only had two races. So we’re not out of the fight. But for sure, if we can’t make progress, we won’t be fighting for the championship. But we’re not giving up,” said George.

“We were the third-best team in those first races. And even if it continues like this for the next five, six, seven, or eight races, we should still be in contact, I think.”

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There’s no reason we can’t turn the tide. We have to see how the situation develops by mid-season. Everything can still change,” said the new Mercedes driver.

The team might bring their first upgrades to the 2022 cars in the European leg of the season in Imola. But it looks like they will continue to struggle when the sport goes to Australia next week for the first time since 2019.

Mercedes have been the 3rd best team on the grid in the first 2 races. But unfortunately, they have been fighting a lot with midfield teams like Haas and Alpine rather than the front runners.

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They also need both their drivers to perform consistently on the weekend and fight with all they have. It would be interesting to see if the German team can compete with the front runners by the mid-season point.