Mercedes are hoping to bounce b🎶ack from a disappointing 2022 season and return to title contention this year with their modified W14. 

After a day-and-a-half of pre-season testing, Russell is convinced Red Bull remain the team ﷽to beat and effectively ruled Mercedes out of a victory fight at the first race in Bahrain. 

"We definitely believe eve꧂ntual💙ly we will have a car capable of getting in that fight,” Russell said. 

"Whe💫ther we're going to have thaꩵt next weekend in Bahrain, I think may be a bit of a stretch.

"They [Red Bull] look very strong, very stable. The car is looking really st🦋rong and obviously Max is performing really well.

"So I think realistically, it will be a stretch for next week.&nb⭕sp;

“But there's no reason why eventually we can't get ther🐈e at some point this year, and we've always seen the strength of Mercedes and their development rates. So yeah, definitely, the belief is 🐻there.” 

Unlike their W13, Mercedes say their 2023 car has “no bouncing” issues but have urgꦦed cau🥂tion about their chances heading into the new campaign.

“Comparing to this time 12 months ago, things are running a lot smoother🍨,” Russell explained. ⛎;

“When we were here last year there were a lot of alarm bells ringing with the porpoising. We were unsure how to solve it were a bit lost and the car characteristics were not good.&🔯nbsp;

“For sure we’ve got things to improve with the ꧅car, but I would s🍃ay, generally speaking, we are roughly where we would have expected to be at this time of year.” 

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff said the team 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:“are still hiding a little bit” when it comes to outright performance but revealed both Russell and teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton have bee🙈n struggling with car💝 balance so far. 

"The entry♚ phase [to the corner] has been improved," Russell said. "It's no secret when you'💞re watching the onboards and videos that we are struggling a little bit with the balance, struggling a lot in the mid-corner.

"But I think it's a balanꦑce that is probably easier to solve than we had last year. So even though it's still a limitation, I think it's a 𝓀good problem to have."