George Russell had an interesting reaction when told of the results of his battle with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes driver George Russell was unsure how to react when informed of his record against his team-mate Lewis Hamilton this season. The 25-year-old tied with the seven-time world champion 11-11 in qualifying sessions, an area where Hamilton has historically been extremely successful.
Russell has lived up to Hamilton’s high standards; the driver with the most pole positions in Formula One history is Hamilton. Russell’s qualifying matchup with Hamilton, despite finishing 59 points and five places behind his more seasoned teammate, goes some way toward demonstrating his merit for a spot with the Silver Arrows.
When Russell learned of his record against Hamilton, he was not pleased. Steve Jones of Channel 4 spoke with a presenter who was even more excited than Russell. In response to the statement that one should be proud of matching Hamilton, Russell said, “To be honest, I don’t really know.”
In contrast to the host’s insistence that he would be “chuffed” with that record, Russell said, “Nobody celebrates a draw, do they?” Given that Russell has demonstrated he wants to win on the grid and isn’t satisfied to just match Hamilton, Mercedes will probably be pleased to hear these remarks.
Because of his qualifying record, Jones emphasized, “but it’s Lewis Hamilton!” Russell then clarified, saying, “It’s been a strange season.” On Saturday afternoons, I felt like I had found my mojo again after struggling a little bit during the season.
You mentioned that we are all eleven, but we never drive at the same speed. This car is just so difficult to drive. Just goes to show how tough the car and the tyres are—either I’m four or five tenths ahead of him, or he’s four or five tenths ahead of me.
Throughout the season, both Russell and Hamilton have bemoaned the W14, having once again fallen well short of Red Bull’s superior vehicle. Russell acknowledged that he was looking forward to a “clean slate” with the car of the following year after the year ended in Abu Dhabi. He also acknowledged that he knew where they needed to make improvements in order to catch Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
“We’re starting over with the car of next year,” he declared. The good news is that we don’t have a hard time understanding why we’re lagging behind Red Bull. This car has so many problems that we can see.
That instills a great sense of motivation and drive in every employee at the factory to pursue these issues and find solutions, which we believe will pave the way for success in the upcoming year. Naturally, I anticipate Red Bull to advance further, but I have no doubt that we will be in a better position in Bahrain than we were this year.”
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