Hamilton Russell not provided with 'what they deserve' by Mercedes - Wolff

Toto Wolff believes neither Lewis Hamilton nor George Russell has been given what they deserve by Mercedes so far this season.

After winning a record eight consecutive constructors' championships, Mercedes' run is under serious threat following a difficult start to the new aerodynamic era.

Hamilton spearheaded a three-four result with Russell in the season-opening race in Bahrain, albeit only after Red Bull suffered a late double DNF.

The following weekend in Saudi Arabia, Russell was the best of the rest behind the Red Bull and Ferrari pairings, with Hamilton's 10th place damage limitation after the low of his worst qualifying performance on pure pace alone of 16th.

Initially asked to assess the job Russell has done for the team so far this year after his move from Williams, team principal Wolff said: “I think he does a great job."

He then added: "But he is not given a tool to fight at the front where he and Lewis deserve to be.

"They have both…George has proven that he has the ability of racing at the front but simply at the moment we are not providing him with the car, so I am very happy with his performance overall.”

Hamilton Russell 'working really well together'

Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin offered a similar evaluation, believing the Russell/Hamilton partnership is one that is working well to date.

Asked whether Russell got the best out of the under-performing W13 in Jeddah, Shovlin replied: "Absolutely, he finished P5.

"We know there is a big performance gap between us and the Red Bull cars, us and the Ferrari cars, so ultimately, P5 is the best that we can do at the moment, and we are working very hard to try and improve that situation."

As to Russell's overall performance, Shovlin added: "How do we assess his weekend though? Well, it's not just on where he finishes.

"It is looking at how he is performing through the sessions, how well George and Lewis are working together, which is going really well.

"They are both very determined to get on top of this car and try and bring more performance to the future races.

"And he has really settled in very well with the team. So, we had high expectations for George, he is delivering on those expectations, so we are all happy.”

Daily poll - Mercedes struggle - will it force a three-way F1 title fight with Ferrari and Red Bull this year?

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