George Russell talks about his new team ahead of his first season as a Mercedes works driver and why it’s advantageous to change teams right now
Mercedes driver George Russell recognises “motivation and passion” in his new team to bounce back after Lewis Hamilton’s controversial World Championship defeat at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Russell’s personal focus this year, however, would be on improving the car and his own performance. To achieve that, he wants to set “micro goals” along the way. Over the winter he was mainly busy getting to know the engineers at the team’s Brackley base and driving the W13 in the simulator. In the process, he would already feel very comfortable in his new team.
“Before I came to Williams in Formula 1, I had already spent a lot of time with the team as a Mercedes junior driver. That’s why I feel like I already know everyone very well,” Russell said in a recent Mercedes video interview. “So we were able to take care of the important things right away and focused on understanding the challenges of the new car and preparing as well as possible for the season ahead. “
“I think after the end of last year, there is enough motivation and passion throughout the factory that we can pick ourselves up again. To witness that is incredible,” said Russell, who is convinced that the new cars for 2022 are still very much unknown to everyone and that no one knows what the balance of power will be. For that reason, he said, he has to focus on his own performance.
“I hope that I can achieve the maximum for myself and for the team in 2022. The development during the year will be very interesting. Along the way, we need to improve the performance [of the car] this year. Since nobody knows where they will be at the first race, you can’t set a value or a result as a target. For this reason, you have to set micro-goals for improving your own performance and that of the car. If you then do everything right, you have the best chance of achieving those goals,” says the Mercedes newcomer.
In doing so, Russell wants to look beyond the start of the 2022 season, when the cars will still be new. “First impressions of the W13 are interesting. The car is completely different to the cars of the previous era, especially in terms of how downforce is generated. For this reason, we are still learning. There is still a lot of potential for improvement to make sure the car is as comfortable to drive as possible. “
“Thanks to the work in the simulator and in the wind tunnel, we are learning every day and I think the others will feel the same. So it will certainly be a development year. Everyone wants to show up at the first race with the fastest car. But it’s more important to understand where your limits are and how to improve from those limits. That’s the only way to build the best possible foundation.”
Interestingly, Russell adds that a change in regulations is a good time to change teams and start afresh, despite the obvious additional challenges: “Honestly, I think changing teams during a rule change like this is a positive for me. We have a completely new car with a completely different philosophy, different tyres and I work with new engineers. So it’s an advantage for me that everyone is starting with a blank sheet of paper.”
“If I had stayed at Williams this season, the things you learnt in the previous car era would still be in the back of your mind and you would have unconsciously carried those over into the future. That’s why it’s an advantage to really start from scratch this year,” Russell said.
