George Russell Intimidated
George Russell Intimidated
All eyes were on George Russell Toto Wolff and Mercedes had announced that George would be taking Valterri Bottas’ seat come the 2022 season. Many were curious to see whether or not George would succumb to the number 2 driver role like Valterri had during his stint with the Silver Arrows. So how has it been for George? And why is he still so intimidated by Lewis even though we’re halfway through the season?
Well, you’re going to have to stick around to find out. But before we get going, consider subscribing to the channel as we upload 4 videos a week at the minimum, just to keep you updated on the latest happenings in the F1 space. Now that’s out of the way, let’s get into it.
As we all can remember, everyone’s first look of George in a Mercedes was at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix where he took Lewis’s seat for the day after the 7-time world champion fell ill. During that race, Mercedes fans saw glimpses of what Russell could be in a title-contending car as Russell would lead the pack for 59 laps until bad luck would strike and he would suffer a puncture that would force him to retire the car.
That would be Russell’s last taste of driving a Mercedes F1 car for the next 2 years as he was still contracted to be a Williams driver even though he started his career as a junior driver for Mercedes and at the time was also a reserve driver for the team. Recently, George was asked about his time at Williams and whether or not he thought his stay with Williams was the right amount:
“I think when we signed with Williams back in 2018, this was a team, bearing in mind, that had just spent three years scoring podiums, finishing P3, P3, P5 in the constructors’, and then they had a very bad year in 2018 where they finished last. But we thought that this was a team that at the time that can bounce back from this, and they’ll be back in the P5 to P3 region of competitiveness. So, we all sort of agreed that three years was a good period, fighting for points, maybe for podiums. In hindsight, three years driving on my own at the back of the grid was too long. But, unfortunately, Claire, Williams former Deputy Team Principal did quite a good job at the contract negotiations, and there was sort of no way out.”
But George would back track a couple steps after this statement saying that if he were to join the team in 2020 or even 2021, that it would have been incredibly tough given the development direction the team was on. In his words:
“But when I look at this with the benefit of hindsight, I think joining Mercedes last year or even in 2020 would’ve been incredibly tough because going up against Lewis when that car has been evolved to suit his style of driving over so many years, that was his baby as such. Whereas now it’s a fresh sheet of paper for everybody, everybody is starting from scratch, and this was probably the right time.”
And as we are halfway through Russell’s first season with Mercedes, the 24-year-old driver excelled amidst the pressure of driving for the Silver Arrows. Russell up to this point has finished in the podium positions 3 times, while also being the driver to consistently finish in the top 5 excluding the nasty incident at the British Grand Prix. Russell attributes this to Mercedes always believing in his capabilities saying:
“Toto [Wolff, Team Principal] always said to me just keep doing your job on track, keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll be in the car. And then obviously we had Sakhir 2020… I think they’ve always believed in me. And that’s something that I feel so fortunate to have because they’re never trying to put me on the spot and test me to see if you crack. They want to build you up; they want to make sure you fulfil your potential.”
But George would admit that his move to Mercedes was probably most nerve-wracking part of his career thus especially when he knew that he was about to be paired with a 7-time world champion.
“Signing a piece of paper to join the greatest team of this era, without doubt, is obviously a huge moment. But if I don’t perform, and I go and get my ass kicked by the greatest driver of all time, what does it mean? Because I’ll probably be out the door. It was a huge moment, it was a huge step on my ladder, but it’s sort of like the image of the guy climbing the mountain; he thinks he’s at the top and then he looks up and the peak’s miles away, and then you get there, and there’s another peak. That’s kind of the way I looked at it. There’s a lot to be to celebrate for a moment like that, but I want to be a World Champion, and I want to win races, and signing that contract didn’t guarantee anything.”
The biggest question in most Mercedes fans’ minds at the start of the season was whether or not Russell would be a worthy driver to have a seat on the team. And thus far Russell has proven that to be the case. The next question would be, how will the dynamic between George and a 7-time world champion like Lewis be? Recently the media would get a chance to ask Lewis this, to which he would reply with:
“I won’t say it’s been tough [being Russell’s teammate] it’s been pleasant, we’ve worked together incredibly well. George has been super positive… had a positive impact on the work environment. It’s generally been a real pleasure to work with him and it’s been great to see his success. He’s done such a great job, got great points for the team and he’s going to continue to improve, he’s going to continue to improve for a long time. I definitely see that he’s got so much potential in him [to be a world champion] and he’s in the right place for it as well. I really think that… whether or not I’m here, he has all the qualities to help take this team forward in the future and lead them to success, so I think it’s been the right choice for the team. I hope I can be a little bit of a part of helping him progress.”
George would also be asked the same thing to which he would reply with:
“There are some traits that he definitely carries that are really intriguing for me,” Russell said after being asked if he had noticed Hamilton doing anything differently from the data they share. “I’m not going to share those now because I’m the only driver on this grid who has the luxury of being teammates with the greatest driver of all time.”
And as I mentioned earlier, George has enjoyed a good run thus far matching Lewis’s pace in the timesheets and at times being the quicker Mercedes driver on the circuit. But George would remain stoic and humble of his performances saying:
“I had zero expectations. I went into the season truly wanting to focus on myself and I always believed that I’d be able to get to a great potential, once I got a few races under my belt and understood the car, and being able to maximise that. I kind of accepted prior to the season, if I’m two-tenths behind the greatest driver of all time in the opening few races, it’s no big deal. If I’m on the same pace, it’s no big deal, and if I’m ahead, it’s no big deal. [I thought] I’m just going to focus on myself and try and get the most out of that, and I think it’s been a relatively good start to the season.”
But even with an arguably better start to Lewis, George would be adamant in saying that Mercedes is still Lewis’s team saying:
“Obviously, it’s done my confidence more good than if I started on the backfoot and if I was behind,” Russell added as he spoke about his return to the Silver Arrows. “I think it’s been clear over the past few years [that] it’s not easy changing teams and going somewhere new when there’s already an established driver on the other side of the garage. At the end of the day, this is Lewis’ territory. He’s been here for 10 years, he’s won however many championships with the team and they’ve had so much success together – so I never thought it was going to be easy.”
And as the dynamic pairing head to the French Grand Prix this weekend, team boss Toto Wolff believes that the team has a better chance of winning at Paul Ricard compared in Austria 2 weeks ago. In Toto’s words:
In Austria, we were more competitive in qualifying. In the race, we had a combination between too much drag and it seemed like we were lacking a tiny bit of power. Overall, Austria was never a happy track for us. Predominantly over the last eight years that we have been successful in the championship, it was the one track where we struggled, so from that perspective, I am okay with how it went. In the sprint, we were really stuck in no man’s land, and in the race, we were maybe stuck in no man’s land from the positioning on the track but the lap times were at least competitive. So the truth is that I think yes is the answer. We are putting things together slowly but surely and that would be the target.”
And there you have it guys, so what do you think? Has George exceeded your expectations as well? Will he be able to carry Mercedes once Lewis decides to retire? Let us know in the comment section below, and as always don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t!
