Mercedes driver George Russell says that he is ‘pleased’ with the progress his team has made this year, despite being ‘disappointed’ to have been unable to challenge for race victories so far in 2022.
Kings Lynn-native Russell joined the Silver Arrows early this year after spending three campaigns with the backmarker Williams team, and has consistently impressed with consistent performances and strong results which have seen him finish in the top five during all seven opening rounds of the season. No other driver can match that record.
Mercedes have been the fastest team in F1 every season since 2014 but are unable to challenge for race victories so far this season, having fallen behind frontrunners Red Bull and Ferrari after F1 underwent its biggest regulation change in a generation over the course of the winter break.
Both Hamilton and Russell have struggled with the W13 car, which has improved in recent races but was suffering from intense porpoising earlier in the campaign which caused it to bounce up and down violently on straights.
Russell again finished ahead of Hamilton at the Monaco Grand Prix last time out, coming home in fifth while Hamilton could only manage eighth behind the defensively stubborn Fernando Alonso.
The 24-year-old now holds a two-place and 34-point advantage over the seven-time world champion in the drivers’ standings, and says that Mercedes’ progress since upgrades were made to the car prior to the Spanish Grand Prix give him hope for the future.
‘I think if you told me prior to the season that we’d be seven races in and I wouldn’t have a victory to my name, I would have definitely been a bit disappointed with that,’ Russell explained. ‘But I think given the pace of the car and given where we’ve been as a team, I’ve been reasonably pleased with how I’ve performed. I think the results have been maximised.’
‘I don’t see many races where we could have achieved better results, but we’ve definitely got room to improve. You are constantly striving for more when you understand the car more, the tyres more. And, you know, I want to fight for this championship. We’ve got to go against the likes of Max [Verstappen] at Red Bull and obviously Charles [Leclerc] is doing an extra extremely good job at the moment with Ferrari. But as a team, we just need to keep on pushing – I need to keep on pushing personally. So, more to come.’
‘We’ve learned a lot and can put that to good use in the coming weeks to take another step forward. Overall, [P5 was] a decent result and I’m confident that we’ve got stronger days ahead of us.’
The eighth round of the 2022 F1 season takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan this weekend.
Vettel called a ‘whiner’ and told to retire from F1 over climate activism
Formula 1 2022 has a big weakness which is ‘a bit sad’, says Pierre Gasly
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
