While George Russell wishes to be faster than Lewis Hamilton, he believes he has equaled “the greatest of all time” in F1 2023 and must draw benefits from that.
Russell has now spent two seasons as seven-time World Champion Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, however the second season did not go as well as the first.
Russell finished his first season with the Silver Arrows ahead of Hamilton in the standings, but that swung for F1 2023, which produced a comfortable defeat for Russell over his renowned team-mate.
George Russell is keeping up with Lewis Hamilton’s speed.
Russell described his F1 2023 season as one of the oddest of his career, with only two podium finishes recorded throughout the season.
Russell, on the other hand, believes his outright pace is on level with Hamilton’s, and while he does not want to settle for this, he concedes he must be “realistic” and appreciate the success in simply matching Hamilton, who has a record 103 grand prix wins.
“I’ve been on Lewis’ level, on average, throughout this year,” Russell told the Telegraph.
“And I’m not content with simply being on his level. I want to be one step ahead of him. But I also need to be practical.
“I’m taking on the greatest driver of all time.” He’s certainly not a horrible model. And, you know, I suppose qualy statistics are exactly the same if you include sprint events. And
George Russell seemed unconcerned about the pressure.
Russell had hoped to add a second victory to his F1 CV in the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, but he crashed out in the late stages while chasing leader Carlos Sainz for the win.
Russell called Singapore his “lowest point of the season,” but he denied suffering from second-season syndrome and cracking under strain in his second Mercedes season with Hamilton.
“There have been a few small incidents,” he told reporters. “They were minor, but they occurred.”
“They have not occurred in previous years.” I need to figure out why that is.
“There is no pressure. I don’t care if I’m a one-man crew or have the best driver of all time in the garage next to me. It has no effect on how I approach my work. There has been no added pressure.”
Hamilton and Russell both signed new Mercedes contracts during the F1 2023 season, keeping them with the club until the end of the season.
