“I think it will be a step in the right direction. But I think the overall results will be overshadowed by the car’s fundamental performance,” says George Russell before the British Grand Prix about the new front wing that his Mercedes team is after brought Silverstone.
What Russell says: He expects the update for the W14 to deliver the expected performance. However, the wing alone will not decide about victory or defeat in his home race. The fluctuations so far this year have been too great for that.
Russell explains: “You’ve seen big swings in performance from week to week for all teams this year, even Red Bull to some degree. You have weeks where they finish 40 seconds ahead and then weeks where they finish in where they only have a 15 to 20 second lead.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had already made a similar statement before the Silverstone race. Russell explains: “A large part of this is due to the tyres. The tires are very sensitive. It’s really difficult to get into the [richtige] window to come.”
“But I’m confident that this weekend will be better than the last,” said Russell after the difficult Spielberg weekend for Mercedes. There, the team around record champion Lewis Hamilton had missed a top 6 result for the first time this season.
Russell doesn’t want to ‘complicate things’
Things didn’t go well for Russell himself either. He finished seventh in Austria, but had to retire from the previous race in Canada. In addition, he has only been on the podium once so far this season, while team-mate Hamilton has already done so three times.
Hamilton is also ahead of Russell in the World Championship with 106:72 points. “Sometimes it’s important not to overthink things,” said Russell, who finished ahead of Hamilton just three times this year. In 2022 he had won the internal Mercedes duel with 12:10.
Russell says he knows “I can beat anyone in this field” if everything goes right. So now he wants to get back to basics. “We often fall into the trap of wanting to do more – work on finer details, work even harder,” he explains.
“And sometimes we over-complicate things and that’s counterproductive,” Russell said. It’s about finding the “right balance”. Consequently, he doesn’t want to put too much pressure on himself ahead of his home race, where he has never been on the podium.
Russell: Eventually I’ll get my chance
When asked that under normal circumstances he would probably not have a chance of winning in 2023 either, he replies that sometimes that cannot be changed. “I’m not going to sit here and sulk that the car isn’t fast enough,” he clarifies.
“I just have to focus on my job and work hard with the team,” said Russell, who explained quite relaxed: “Everyone gets their chance. Sometimes you get more than one chance and a slightly better chance, but it will come. Me I’m 25 years old.”
“When I see what Lewis and Fernando [Alonso] I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be here for another 15, 17, 18 years. So when I look at it that way, I’m not worried,” said Russell, who believes he will eventually get a chance to win his home race.
When asked what he would be happy with in 2023, he replies: “If I finish P2 but victory was possible, I’ll be disappointed. If I finish P4 and P4 was the maximum, I’ll be happy. It all depends on the potential off and I’m satisfied if we fulfill that potential.”