“It’s not a lot when you compare it to Roger Federer” – George Russell rues lack of pre-season running for Williams ahead of the Bahrain GP.
George Russell is a potential world champion with Mercedes. But currently, he’s lagging at the rear with the once-great Williams outfit. With the owners changing from the family synonymous with the name to Dorilton Capital, the focus is now again on achieving glory.
And as such, George Russell is constantly pushing his team to improve, day in and day out. This, according to his bosses, make it difficult to work with him, but in a good way. Russell doesn’t care about this, as long as the team rises from its current struggling times.
“If you’re demanding, I guess it’s got to be in a constructive way, and I’m glad they see it that way. I’m not easy to work with, I’m always pushing these guys for more in every single aspect.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s engineering, the designers, the aero guys, the marketing team, I’m always pushing for more to get the most out of everybody and that’s just the way I operate I guess.”
George Russell with a Federer reference for pre-season testing
The pre-season testing this season was for three days, as compared to the six days the last term. This did not impress Russell one bit, who chose a Roger Federer analogy to drive home his point.
But with all teams getting the same prep time, it is down to them to prepare themselves in the best way possible ahead of the season-opener in Sakhir, Bahrain.
“I think it definitely affects you as a driver. We’ve been out all winter, and only getting one day for myself and one and a half for everyone else, it’s not a lot when you compare it to Roger Federer, who’s probably hitting a tennis ball every single day of his life for the last 20 years probably,”
“It does affect us, but equally we’re all in the same boat, and it will add some different challenges to the mix, which equally means there is opportunity to be had. In our position, I have no objections to only having one day in the car.”
