George Russell talked about Mercedes' relentless work to get back to fighting for wins reiterated that he believes it can still compete on equal terms against Red Bull and Ferrari this year
One cannot say that George Russell's debut at Mercedes is all bad, quite the contrary. The only driver to finish every race so far in the 2022 Formula One season in the top five - and with two podiums to his name - the Englishman is fourth in the championship with 84 points, 34 more than teammate Lewis Hamilton, and he feels he can achieve much more. He even wants to compete against Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc later this year.
Russell took stock of the first part of the World Championship, currently led by Verstappen, and was satisfied with the pace he has been showing, although he started the year believing that by now he would have some victory on his resume.
"I think if I was told before the season that I wouldn't have any wins after seven races, I would certainly be somewhat disappointed," Russell admitted to the press. "But I think, given the pace of the car and where we are as a team, I can be reasonably satisfied with the performance," he assessed.
In fact, the young Englishman has something to celebrate. After a remarkable leap at the weekend in Spain, which ended with third place for Russell and Hamilton with a pace similar to that of Red Bull and Ferrari, Mercedes once again suffered too much from the W13's kicks on the streets of Monte Carlo. Even so, the #63 car crossed the finish line fifth, while the seven-time champion was eighth.
Russell was quite candid in analyzing the German team's achievements so far. "I think the results have been maximized. I don't see many races where we could have achieved better results, but there is definitely room for improvement," he continued.
Mercedes' main concern is to find a definitive solution to alleviate porpoising and consequently improve performance. Russell explained that "you constantly start to fight for more when you understand the car and the tires better," and craved, "I want to fight for this championship."
"We're up against people like Max from Red Bull, and obviously Charles, who is doing a really good job with Ferrari at the moment. But as a team we just need to keep pushing, I need to keep pushing, personally speaking. There is more to come, so," finished the driver.