George Russell explains why Mercedes haven’t upgraded car for Australian Grand Prix

Russell could only manage 11th in the second practice session on Friday

Russell (right) has revealed why Mercedes have not yet upgraded their car (Getty Images)

Mercedes driver George Russell has revealed why the team have not brought any upgrades to the Australian Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows could only manage 11th and 13th in the second practice session in Melbourne as Russell narrowly outperformed teammate Lewis Hamilton.

For the third race running Mercedes are struggling to break out of the midfield as Ferrari and Red Bull continue to prove they have significantly more pace.

And Russell has explained that due to the cost cap implemented by the FIA for the 2022 season, the reigning constructors champions cannot simply throw money at the issues.

Speaking ahead of FP1, he said: “We’re a long way behind Ferrari and Red Bull. We were probably further behind them in Jeddah, and we understand why. We need to close that gap - but there’s nothing substantial this weekend that will do that.

“It’s going to take time and I think we just have to be disciplined and patient. Because we are so far behind and because of the cost cap, we can’t afford just to throw things at it and ‘trial and error’ at race weekends.

“We need to trust the process and bring the upgrades when we have total faith and confidence they will do as we expect. And that will be a number of races before we start seeing that.

“Obviously we were probably a second off the pace in Jeddah. So there’s nothing that is going to really put us in the fight with those guys.”

Ferrari topped the standings again in FP2 as championship leader Charles Leclerc led the way ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez also made the top five, while Alpine driver and F1 legend Fernando Alonso finished a thoroughly impressive fourth.