George Russell avoids talking about disappointment with Mercedes' results in 2022, and he heaped praise on Lewis Hamilton's technical condition as a teammate
In his debut year for Mercedes, George Russell is one of the highlights of the Formula 1 2022 season. In nine races contested so far, the 24-year-old Englishman has been in the top-five in all of them, and has taken podium finishes in three of them, placing him fourth in the World Championship standings with 111 points, ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Although it is the first time since 2011 that Mercedes has not won a race in the top nine of the championship, Russell dismisses that the results achieved so far have been bad. And he also heaped praise on seven-time world champion Hamilton's method of working.
"I don't think it's been a bad start to the season, particularly. There's room to evolve in certain areas, and I think I'm in a privileged position being Lewis' teammate, learning so much from him. The way he works, the way he talks to the engineers, he gets the whole team motivated, it's inspiring to see," Russell commented in an interview with the Formula One website.
"Also on the technical side, he's quite impressive, which a lot of people don't recognize or appreciate. I think there is room for improvement, but in terms of results, we are fine. I don't think we could achieve better results when looking at the season rationally. Apart from Bahrain, I think we've finished as high as possible in every race," he continued.
Still waiting to win for the first time in Formula One, Russell maintains that he is satisfied with what Mercedes has achieved so far. The Brackley-based squad has won every Constructors' Championship since 2014, but currently sits just third in 2022.
"You have to look at the positives, and look at things rationally. We can't be disappointed not to win a race with the package we have. We are at this stage of development, and I think we are optimizing," he concluded.
Formula One returns on July 3 with the British Grand Prix, Russell's home race, which will be held at the Silverstone circuit.