Young driver determined to help make Silver Arrows a winner again: 'Mercedes believed in me. I owe them a championship.'
George Russell stepped up to make his first start for Mercedes in 2020 when the Silver Arrows were still the kings of Formula 1. But they were dethroned by long-term rival Red Bull and now the hunted has become the hunter. Russell sat down withat the recent Dutch Grand Prix to discuss Mercedes’ planned recovery, his progress, and his status within Formula 1.
That has partly been driven by Mercedes erring with the design of its car for a second successive season while other results have slipped through the net on account of operational mistakes. He's currently seventh in the Formula 1 Drivers' Standings and has one career win . Russell joined Mercedes full time in 2022, in advance of new ground-effect regulations, meaning his arrival coincided with the slump of the Silver Arrows. Mercedes won 111 races across its eight-season title streak between 2014 and 2021 but has triumphed only once—“Obviously, the results haven't matched the hope or expectations that I was, or we as a team were, expecting going into these two seasons,” says Russell.
Russell has had a lengthy affiliation with Mercedes, stretching back to 2017, when he joined its young driver program. Russell claimed that year’s GP3 title, the Formula 2 crown in 2018, and spent three years with Williams, serving an apprenticeship of sorts with Mercedes’ customer team. Russell earned a strong reputation for overreaching in uncompetitive machinery while also adopting a vocal leadership position amid Williams’ struggles, confident from the outset in his own ability.
“Yeah, I think when I perform best is when it just comes to me and by not overanalyzing things,” Russell explains. “It's very difficult to not overanalyze things when you're slightly on the back foot because you feel like you need to do more to improve and work harder to find that solution. But sometimes you need to take one step back to go two steps forward and focus on the simple things.
Russell is also cognizant that when it comes to wider perception it is always a teammate to which a driver is compared. In Russell’s instance the sister car is raced by a seven-time World Champion, who during this interview sat alone on an adjacent table in Mercedes’ motorhome scrolling through his phone.
Russell believes the day will when Mercedes will be the ones once again setting the pace against rival Red Bull.“When I was eight years old, dreaming of Formula 1, you're not dreaming of the impact you can have as the individual,” Russell recounts. “You're just dreaming of racing cars, winning races, winning championships. But I think we all recognize the importance and the potential influence we have on people [who are] watching.
Despite Red Bull’s dominance, George Russell feels that Formula 1 as a whole is in a really good place.“You've then got the on-track entertainment side of things, and how exciting the races are, which I guess the tires are a factor, the degradation, the format, DRS positioning, etcetera, etcetera.
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