Formula 1: George Russell, disappointed by a Mercedes that is third and has not yet won

When George Russell was made official by Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton’s new teammate, replacing Valtteri Bottas, the 24-year-old British driver figured that 2022 would bring him a future winner. However, after seven Formula 1 tests, he did not make it and only reached the last step of the podium in Australia and Spain, something that only the seven-time world champion achieved on the first date, which is why Mercedes appears as the best is the rest: yes, in third place in the constructors’ championship, which Red Bull and Ferrari dominate in a fierce fight, with 235 and 199 points, far from 134 of the eight consecutive F1 champions.

Not hiding his disappointment, Russell – one of the UK’s most promising drivers alongside 22-year-old Lando Norris – admitted that he hoped he would win a race at this point of the season if asked before joining the winning team of the last 8. constructor titles.

“I think that if you had told me before the season that we would be in seven races and that I would not have a win in my name, I would certainly have been a little disappointed,” acknowledged the former Williams driver, where he was replaced by Alex. Albon optimistic because “given the pace of the car and given where we have been as a team”, he is “reasonably satisfied” with his performance, which puts him in fourth place, behind Max Verstappen (1st) and Checo Pérez (3rd), Red Bull and Charles Leclerc (2nd), until recently leader with Ferrari.

“I don’t see many races where we could have achieved better results, but we definitely have room for improvement. You constantly push yourself to achieve more when you understand more about the car, the tires. And, you know, I want to fight for this championship. I think the results have been maximized, “he added in the statements posted by the F1 website.

The future, however, is not encouraging after what happened in Monaco, where Mercedes only took 14 points, because what follows is another street circuit, in Azerbaijan this Sunday. Russell noted that the Principality’s low-speed circuit highlighted some of Mercedes’ weaknesses and could be seen again in the former Soviet republic.

“We found some of the limitations of our car in Monaco,” noted the British driver. But we’ve learned a lot and can use it over the next few weeks to take it one step further. Overall it was a decent result (his fifth place) and I’m sure we will have stronger days ahead of us. “

In this regard, the team’s technical director of the track, Andrew Shovlin, said: “Of course, it was much more difficult to get the car to work in Monaco than in Barcelona. In Barcelona we have shown that we have a good race pace, although we know we still There is work to be done to close the gap with Red Bull and Ferrari, but the challenge in Monaco is nature at low speed, it is a very bumpy circuit and we were struggling with driving the car.

“Baku – he added – could present similar challenges. However, we are working on some areas to try to improve that drive, try to get the car a little closer to its optimal window, but we are very aware that in addition to adding some basic performance to the car, we need to make it work. in a wider range of circuits. So these are all things we will be busy with next week in preparation for Baku, but also in the long term, because more challenging tracks will come. “

Russell, for his part, concluded enthusiastically: “We have to face people like Max [Verstappen] at Red Bull and of course Charles [Leclerc] he is doing a great job right now with Ferrari. But as a team, we just have to keep pushing, I have to keep pushing personally. So there is more to come. “