Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ‘annoyed’ as Mercedes still stuck in ‘no man’s land’

Toto Wolff has conceded that there is widespread annoyance within the Mercedes team right down to Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, as their struggles continue on the track this season. It’s been a campaign to forget so far for seven-time world champion Hamilton and the Silver Arrows, who as it stands, are racing for nothing more than pride due to a series of difficulties with their car.

Hamilton has already conceded that his F1 title hopes are over and his performances on the track have only shown mild signs of improvement.

The 37-year-old finished eighth in Monaco while Russell once again outshone him by securing fifth place at Circuit de Monaco.

But after yet another strong performance from Red Bull and Ferrari, Mercedes are facing the prospect of being left behind.

The gulf is beginning to wear Wolff down and he said: “I think we are the third team.

“We’re not second and we’re not fourth. We have two extremely strong drivers, but it is a huge annoyance for all of us that the gap is about the same.

“If you’re looking at it optimistically, it’s five-tenths. If you’re looking at it pessimistically, it’s more than eight-tenths. And that is clearly for all of us at Mercedes not acceptable.

“I think we’re learning at the moment at every track. Literally every kilometre that we’re doing is an important lesson on how we can improve the car, to be honest.

“But we just need to get out of this no man’s land in which we are at the moment.”

Both Hamilton and Russell appeared to be suffering from the car’s bounce in Monaco, something that was laid bare during qualifying.

“Horrendous. It feels pretty bad here,” Hamilton said after being unable to complete the final lap.

“Very bumpy for some reason. It’s very hard for us to get below a second of the [Ferrari and Red Bull] guys, it takes a lot of risk.”

The porpoising problems continued into the race though and Hamilton’s jaw and teeth were left shaking from the rattling.

“I’m praying the car doesn’t feel like it does here,” he said. “This was the worst in this car so far because of the potholes.

“I’m looking forward to it going away – just my teeth, my jaw moving all the time. I’m done shaking.

“I don’t know if it’s the porpoising. I hope it’s not what we had in the last race, so I want it to not be a problem.

“But if there are potholes, then in the corners we can have them.”

There is optimism the car will be improved before Baku, although like Monaco, that is also a street circuit which is likely to cause even more complications.