George Russell began his career with the Mercedes F1 racing team in the 2022 season by replacing Valtteri Bottas and taking the other end of the Silver Arrows garage.
In his first season with the Silver Arrows, the 24-year-old successfully defeated Lewis Hamilton in the championship standings, but that was not enough for him.
Mercedes saw an end to its 8-years of dominance in the sport as it stepped into the 2022 season. The team started its campaign with a problematic W13 which lacked pace and struggled with massive porpoising.
Russell, who had moved to Mercedes from Williams, where he spent three seasons, found comfort in the car and got the best out of it while Hamilton struggled to do the same.
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George Russell wants more than just beating Lewis Hamilton
Russell finished his first season with Mercedes with 275 points and P4 in the standings. The 24-year-old edged over Hamilton by 35 points as the 7x world champion could only score 240 points and a P6 finish.
He became the third-ever driver to defeat Hamilton as his teammate, with the other two being Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button.
While this seems like quite an achievement statistics-wise, the case is not the same for Russell. In his first season with Mercedes, Russell scored his maiden win in Brazil and the team’s sole pole position in Hungary.
That win was more important to Russell than outscoring Mercedes’ star driver. He told Auto Motor und Sport that nobody would remember that he beat Hamilton on points. Finishing P4 is no man’s land.
Even finishing the season with a maiden win, one pole position and eight podiums is not an achievement he is looking for in Mercedes.
Suiting up for 2023. 🖤 @lewishamilton pic.twitter.com/lH6MUH0WE1
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 12, 2023
What is Russell’s expectation?
Russell’s mindset of expecting more from the team is natural since the Silver Arrows has dominated the past decade with eight constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ titles in a row.
Therefore, like other drivers, Russell wants to grab the glorious championship title. Now that he is in a winning squad, he hopes that day arrives sooner.
But what will make that happen is a championship-winning car. So, if Mercedes succeeds in building on the improvements of the W13 from later in the season, it might be possible for Russell.
Although, there is one more hurdle, which is his tough-to-beat teammate. If the W14 becomes capable of a title challenge, undoubtedly, Hamilton knows how to race it to a record-breaking victory.
In that situation, Russell would have to do what only Hamilton’s fiercest rival, Nico Rosberg, could pull off in the 2016 season.
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