Martin Brundle believes Mercedes driver George Russell will be ‘disappointed’ after the Bahrain Grand Prix.
George Russell started the race in third after a brilliant performance in qualifying and pulled off some great moves in the opening laps.
However, speaking on Sky Sports F1 at the end of the race, Martin Brundle admitted that the £270k-a-week man wouldn’t be too happy with his finishing position.
Brundle thinks Russell will be disappointed after Bahrain GP
It’s unfair to read too much into one race in Formula 1, but trends are already emerging across the grid.
Alpine look to have taken several steps backwards, while Haas don’t look as slow as everyone feared.
The early hype around RB has quickly died down, with Yuki Tsunoda particularly unimpressed at the end of the race.
Unfortunately for the midfield runners, it looks like Red Bull are going to once again be head and shoulders ahead of their rivals.
That’s bad news for Ferrari and Mercedes and the Silver Arrows look like they’re comfortably the third-fastest team on the grid.
Brundle believes Russell will be disappointed he couldn’t hold onto a place on the podium after his strong start.
Ultimately, he and Lewis Hamilton were dealing with a few demons in the car that meant they couldn’t challenge Ferrari.
It will be interesting to see how they get on in Jeddah next Saturday.
Mercedes struggled during Bahrain GP
Covering Leclerc’s overtake on Russell where the Brit made a mistake into turn 10, Brundle said: “It’s within the rules but Leclerc getting quite inventive with the race track down there at turn eight, turning in from a very wide angle.
“Ooh, look at this, Russell’s gone super deep. That’s the trouble when you have to start driving in your mirrors, you make mistakes.
“And we know George will soon have a go straight back, don’t we? But this was a big lock-up of the front axle, he tried to brave it out down the outside.”
After the chequered flag had been waved, Brundle added: “A solid weekend for George [Russell], he’ll be disappointed with the race pace as will Lewis [Hamilton] in the other Mercedes.”
Brundle was impressed with Lewis Hamilton’s driving style on Saturday but he’ll be equally disappointed after finishing seventh and having to deal with even more problems with his car.
They’ll need to be fixed quickly to continue battling with Ferrari as a title challenge looks very unrealistic at this point.
Mercedes have made technical strides with their car that may even end up inspiring Red Bull.
That doesn’t mean much if they’re miles away from their Austrian counterparts on the track.
The post ‘You make mistakes’: Martin Brundle admits £270k-a-week driver will be ‘disappointed’ after yesterday’s race appeared first on F1 Oversteer.