Mercedes sit second in the constructors’ championship after 12 rounds in F1 2023, 51 points ahead of Aston Martin.

Despite their P2 position, they’ve not been able to challenge Red Bull at all for race🃏 victories.

Red Bull are currently invincible - winning 12 out of 12 - with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen winning the last eight in a row.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s , Russell conceded it’s not where Mercedes want to be but was k🗹een to point 🍸out it’s not been a total failure.

“As a team we’ve gone from strength to strength,” ꩲhe said. “There were a lot of expectations of us, going into the season. Perhaps that’s why people are calling our season a bit of a failure. Of course, it’s far from where we want it to be, because we want to be fighting for championships. 

“But to call P2 in the championship, 50 points ahead of P3, a f𓂃ailure? It’s far from a reality. We know that we’ve got a ܫlot to improve. In the second half of the season, hopefully we can be there to pick up any pieces. 

“You never know. Last year we had the mentality that Singapore wou🤡ld be our only opportunity to win. 

“When we didn’t win there was disappoin🉐tment and no expectation going into Brazil, but we came away with the victory there.”

While Mercedes sit comfortably sec♔ond, they’ve often not had the second-fastest car.

Aston Martin were Red Bull’s neares⭕t challengers consistently in the first eight races, while Ferrari and McLaren have sporadically🐎 took that title.

“It’s close between us, Aston Martin, Ferrari and McLaren,” he added. “We’re consistently there fight🍬ing between the second and third fastest teams. 

“Our teไam have done an a𝕴mazing job to maximise points. 

“I’m not going to say we’re the second fastest team, but w🍌e’re in a strong position to secure P2.”