George Russell and his Mercedes teammate for the 2022 Formula 1 season, Lewis Hamilton, led the timesheets on the final day of pre-season testing in Barcelona. This led to think that the German team can continue to lead the category, even with the changes in regulations.
Speaking to the official F1 website, Russell spoke about whether he was already thinking about winning a world championship now that he is part of a top-flight team that has only lost one drivers’ championship since 2014.
“To be honest, I didn’t even think about it. I think it’s amazing how the brain of the drivers works, that when you put on the helmet it doesn’t matter if you’re fighting for the victory or, in my case, running at the back of the race. grid for the last few years. You always start with the same mentality.
The former Williams driver cited the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix as an example of his way of thinking. That weekend he left his seat behind to replace Hamilton at Mercedes, as the Briton had tested positive for COVID-19, and winning the race was within his grasp.
“The best example of all this is Bahrain, when I drove for Mercedes [in 2020]. For me, that was just another race, no matter if I was in the lead or if I started from the back row. The approach is the same, the mentality It’s the same, the work you do is exactly the same. So you work on the process and then you worry about everything else, “he explained.
Russell also spoke about the teams’ performance in testing, turning his gaze to Ferrari and McLaren. “Some teams, particularly a red one and an orange one, look very, very competitive,” said the Briton.
Asked if it wasn’t part of a mind game, Russell denied it. “I can’t play these games, it’s too much effort. There’s no such thing. We’re working on our own program and it’s honestly not representative of what we saw in testing.”
“You know who might be in the top half and who might be in the bottom half, but when it comes to qualifying there are tenths of a second difference between the teams, which is equivalent to about five kilos of fuel. Yes, it’s totally representative.” , he stated in statements to grandprix247.com .
“It is very likely that things will be very different developmentally when we get to Bahrain. The ‘Landos’ [Norris, for his words about preferring last to first in the tests] can play, we can’t,” he added.
