Heavy criticism of Mercedes: 'They must be thinking, "WTF are we all doing?"'

For the Miami Grand Prix, Mercedes are introducing an update for their disappointing W15. "That's not very smart, because because of the sprint race you have one free practice to tune the car," says Giedo van der Garde, who, on the other hand, believes, "They have to. It can hardly get any worse!"

Indeed, former world champion Mercedes' season has been one big, sporting disappointment. A seventh (George Russell) and ninth place (Lewis Hamilton) in the World Championship standings is not where Mercedes drivers belong, given the stature of the German team. Customer team McLaren - with youngsters Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri - for example, are doing better with a Mercedes-built power unit.

When Giedo van der Garde, who himself raced in Formula 1 for one season, takes in Mercedes' current performance, he comes to the harsh conclusion in DRS: The Race Show: "Actually, as a factory team, they may scratch themselves behind the ears and ask themselves: 'What the f*** are we all doing?'"

Praise for 'number two' Russell

Lewis Hamilton took an equally handsome and unexpected second place in the sprint race in China. But in qualifying for the main race, all the speed was gone again, ensuring that the seven-time champion played a supporting role in the Grand Prix. Again, because in all GPs his teammate Russell finished ahead of him (provided they finished). "George Russell is underrated. I think he is a very good driver, because especially in the last two years alongside Hamilton he has shown he can come very close and even go over," Van der Garde responded.

But is Russell Mercedes' number one? "No. In the future, he is going to be the number one. Or if Max Verstappen has to go there, then he will be number two again."