Russell: “I’m here to win”

George Russell finished his maiden campaign with Mercedes in fourth position and 35 points ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, having also clinched in Brazil his first career win in F1 (picture above) and the only victory of the 2022 season for his team.

Russell cool-headed performance throughout the season was saluted by his team, who underlined not only the 24 year-old results, but also the way in which they were achieved – fast, calm, determined – in a season undermined by the complexity and the relative lack of performance of the Mercedes W13.

The young man, lucid, reflects on his 2022 campaign: “If you’d told me at the start of the year that I’d be finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton, I’d have been very happy because nine time out of 10, that means that you’re going to be World Champion.”

Russell continues: “It’s a little bit frustrating that this year wasn’t that year. We were both fighting for P4, P5, P6 and we don’t want to be in that position, so I’m not going to walk away from this season with huge amounts of pride because I finished fourth in the championship, I’m here to win.”

He concludes: “I’m really excited for 2023. I’m still going to be trying to improve my driving, what I do on and off the track, and hopefully we’ve got the car beneath us to fight for the championship.” 

If the new Mercedes is fast, and no doubt in our minds it will be, watch out for this young lad from King’s Lynn in England, he might be a serious challenger for the 2023 drivers’ title.