“It feels like it’s been here forever,” enthused Toto Wolff after watching George Russell’s first half of the season as Mercedes’ regular driver. The team manager is very pleased with the way the 24-year-old has adapted to the Brackley team in such a short time.
It must be remembered that Russell has been part of the Mercedes young driver program since 2017, for which he had already tested a car from the star team several times and even replaced Lewis Hamilton in 2020 when he was infected with CODIV-19 in Sakhir GP.
“He has adapted very well,” reported Wolff with great satisfaction, explaining: “What I like about him is that he doesn’t change if he is eighth or if he finishes second. He is always very rational, logical and tries to find solutions to any problem.” .
“There’s not a lot of emotion involved in his thoughts, and that’s great.” The Austrian also recognized that the young British driver is already at “a great level” despite his 24 years of age. Before coming to Formula 1, he won GP3 in 2017 and Formula 2 in 2018.
In 2019 he signed for Mercedes customer team Williams before being promoted to the factory team after a three-year apprenticeship, and is currently ahead of teammate and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton .
With 158 and 146 points respectively, Russell is ahead, and currently also wins 7-6 in the duel that both have internally in the qualifying sessions. More recently, at the Hungarian GP, he also took his first pole position in Formula 1. “He’s going a great way,” praised Wolff .
Meanwhile, Russell is still waiting for his first win in motorsport’s top flight. And, despite the fact that Mercedes has not been able to keep up with Red Bull Racing and Ferrari since the start of the season, the team’s progress and its five podium finishes mean that long-awaited victory does not seem so far away either.
George Russell, inside his 2022 F1 Mercedes W13
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