Enjoying his first season with Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso sat down for an interview with the YouTube channel ‘High Performance,’ where he spoke about missing out on celebrating his 2005 world championship championship win in Brazil to the full extent. The admission struck a chord with George Russell, who subsequently admitted to being gutted about not being able to enjoy his first-ever race in Brazil.
2022 : George Russell – Brazil pic.twitter.com/Dxy9OlRcmc
— Nhor_7 #CL16 (@14Cl16) June 12, 2023
Russell revealed to Formula One that he did not have enough time to celebrate the win in Sao Paolo back in 2022, as they had to fly to Abu Dhabi for the season finale, the same night. Russell further claimed he would never make the same mistake to ensure the prevention of the feeling of missing out.
“I would have loved to have spent the whole night there in Brazil with all my team and celebrate until the sun had risen in the morning. But the practicality of it meant that was just not possible. So yeah we won’t make that same mistake twice.”
Alonso had to fly out of Sao Paolo to complete the remaining races of his maiden-championship winning season back in 2005. Russell, on the other hand, had to fly off to Abu Dhabi for the final race of the season, putting an early halt to their victory celebrations. Given the significance of each race win, both drivers now feel distraught to have not celebrated more.
Russell’s win was particularly remarkable as it stands as Mercedes’ only race win since the regulation changes of 2022 came into effect. As such, the Briton feels even more dejected to have not celebrated when he had the chance. Not only did the win bring regret to Russell, but it also brought struggles for Mercedes, given they chose to stick with a faulty car setup for one more season.
George Russell win brought a false sense of hope to the Mercedes camp
Russell and Lewis Hamilton‘s 1-2 finish at the 2022 Sao Paolo GP convinced the team’s top-ranking officials that they were on the right path with the development of their car and that there was no need to move away from the concept of the W13.
As such, Mercedes stuck with the concept for the W14, piling on their miseries from 2022 into the 2023 season. However, the team knew they were on the wrong path immediately after the Bahrain GP, with Toto Wolff admitting they would need to change the concept of the car to stay competitive.
Toto a dit que la boîte de vitesse Mercedes sera complètement modifié pour s’ajuster au nouveau châssis et nouveau concept de la W15.
Celle-ci avait été modifier pour s’ajuster au concept zéro pod du W13 et W14 et compliquait de travail dans la zone arrière du fond plat. pic.twitter.com/usHQ1k2zZY
— MercedesF1Actu.France (@MercedesF1Actu) January 2, 2024
But the changes came too little too late, as Red Bull were already miles ahead of them in the competition. While the Red Bull drivers featured on all but one podium in 2023, the Mercedes drivers had a much more frustrating time driving the W14, sharing the podium eight times between them.
Heading into the 2024 season, Mercedes will feature an entirely new car concept. The team is hopeful of being much more competitive than the last two seasons and hope to be involved in the title picture. At the same time, they will be looking to fend off any challenge from Ferrari and McLaren.
