Russell reveals why Mercedes have been 'underperforming'

With both Ferrari and McLaren winning races since the summer break, Mercedes, as expected, wish to be back on the top step of the podium. When asked why Mercedes are looking a little worse than normal, Russell replied, "The margins are so fine. We have still been putting in some strong performances. We qualified third in Monza, fourth in Zandvoort, and was half a tenth from third again last week in Baku. And that was obviously on an old engine as well, which didn't help the situation whatsoever."

"So, I think if things had gone very slightly differently and if we had nailed those three races as we nailed probably those three qualifyings, we would have been on the podium in all three of them. But we definitely underperformed and I made the mistake at the start in Monza, which had a big impact on the race result. But that's how it is right now. One small error and you're three, four, five positions lower down the order than you probably would have been in other years."

Can Russell avoid a crash this year? 

Last year, Russell qualified on the front row of the grid and looked to be well on his way to the podium. However, his chances soon slipped away when the Brit hit the wall and slid into the pile of tyres on his final lap. 

This year though, Russell is determined for things to be different, but does not believe he has any 'unfinished business' in Singapore. The Mercedes driver explained his approach to this weekend's race as he reflected on last year: "It was a long old race. It was on the last lap, I thought the race was done, and right behind Lando, he kissed the wall, I touched the wall, and before I knew it, I'm out of the race. But that's how the game goes. It's not going to change my approach one bit about how I go into this weekend. You learn from things like that." 

This article was written in collaboration with Corwin Kunst.