Mercedes had been the most dominant team in F1 for the longest of times until Red Bull fought their way back to the top, beginning in 2021. Even though the Silver Arrows won their eighth consecutive Constructors’ Championship that season, Max Verstappen did defeat Lewis Hamilton for his maiden title. Now, since the Milton Keynes outfit has established utter dominance, the Mercedes team seems rattled and are desperate to fight back. George Russell has now opened up in an interview with planetf1.com about how he hopes that he can help Mercedes return to the top.
Moreover, Hamilton also recently signed a contract extension with the Silver Arrows with the aim of dethroning Red Bull. After signing his extension, the 38-year-old said (as quoted by f1.com), “I’m grateful to the team who have supported me both on and off the track. Our story isn’t finished. We are determined to achieve more together and we won’t stop until we do“.
Similarly, Russell, who also signed a contract extension with Mercedes, also explained how he is keen to help the team return to the front. Hence, since both Russell and Hamilton have made their intentions clear moving forward, the 25-year-old was recently asked in an interview about Mercedes’ chances of issuing a fight in the future to the dominant Red Bull.
Russell hopes Mercedes can take inspiration from McLaren to challenge Red Bull
McLaren surprised everyone in the paddock this season after they made drastic improvements over the course of this season. After fighting just to get into the points at the start of this year’s campaign, the Woking-based outfit are now fighting for podiums more often.
Looking at McLaren’s staggering improvement this season, George Russell hopes Mercedes can take inspiration from them to pose a fight to the mighty Red Bull in the future. However, he did admit that it is going to be very difficult for any team to challenge the Milton Keynes outfit at this point.
When asked about the same in an interview with planetf1.com, the Briton replied, “When you look at the turn in form that Aston Martin had over last winter, the turn of form that McLaren has had, that definitely gives optimism that it can happen. Obviously, Red Bull are going to continue to improve. It’s going to be difficult for sure“.
After stating the same, Russell also gave the example of how Red Bull too challenged Mercedes back in 2021 despite the Silver Arrows arguably having their best season of the turbo hybrid era in 2020. While the 25-year-old does have hope that Mercedes can challenge Red Bull moving forward, he made it clear that he does not want to set any expectations.
George Russell wants Mercedes to make steady improvements
During the same interview, George Russell emphasized the importance of Mercedes making steady improvements and taking it race by race to improve the car. The 25-year-old believes that the rest of the races in this season will be critical for his side to understand where they lack and where they need the most improvement.
Once they are able to understand the same, Russell believes that the team can work over the winter to produce a quicker car for next season. While the Briton is not confident that he can win a championship next season, he does believe that in the years to come, he can definitely achieve his lifelong dream with Mercedes.
