F1 2023 Season: George Russell Promises Strong Mercedes Performance From Race One
Mercedes had a difficult 2022 F1 season and all eyes will be on them to see if they can turn this around and get back to their previous performance by producing a car that can be competitive against Red Bull and Ferrari.
George Russell has spoken to BBC Radio Norfolk about the upcoming 2023 season and is feeling positive. He said:
"They haven't forgotten how to build a fast race car. We just got it wrong this year. We got the philosophy wrong. We went down a route which turned out to be the wrong route.
"Sometimes it takes you a long time to dig yourself out of that hole. Now I feel we've dug ourselves out of that hole and we're building on top of that.
"We are a step behind Red Bull and Ferrari and we've got a lot of catching up to do - but we're definitely going to be in a much stronger position from race one next year than we were this year.”
The team managed to see some significant improvements in their performance towards the end of the season and Russell achieved his first F1 win at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Russell was promoted from Williams to Mercedes for the 2022 season. He also spoke about how he felt going into his first year with the team:
"When you join a team like Mercedes you're expecting victories. I felt ready to fight for race wins and championships this year but you've just got to manage your expectations.
"You've got to change those sights slightly and it's been really intriguing for me this year, seeing how the team deal with this situation.
"I'm here for the long haul and even though I wanted victories and [to be] fighting for that championship in 2022, as a team these struggles are going to set us up for the coming years.
"I hope I look back in 10 years' time and say the 2022 season was a positive one in the journey.”
Reflecting on the difficult year and coming fourth in the driver's championship, Russell commented:
"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 times out of 10 that probably means you're going to be world champion.
"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 this 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."