According to George Russell, the Mercedes team is diligently working to improve their race starts, a crucial aspect that has been hindering their performance, ahead of the upcoming Miami Grand Prix in May. Despite achieving four front-row lockouts in the initial three Grands Prix and Sprint, neither Russell nor his teammate has managed to secure the lead after the first lap. Although the team's pace has been sufficient to recover and win the first three races, their starts have been a significant weakness.
Ferrari, on the other hand, has excelled in this area, thanks to their compact turbo, which enables quicker spin-up times and facilitates finding the optimal launch window. Russell emphasized that while opportunities to practice starts are limited, the team is focusing on analyzing data to address this flaw. In an interview with Sky Germany during Pirelli tire testing at the Nürburgring, Russell stated that a substantial amount of work is being done behind the scenes, including simulator analysis and data examination, to rectify their race start issues.