Russell in same situation as Verstappen years back: 'Not worried'
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George Russell is at the same stage of his career as Max Verstappen was a few years ago: being good enough in your fourth Formula 1 season to make a serious bid for the world title, but lacking the material to do so. The British driver entered Mercedes at the wrong time, winning just one Grand Prix so far. Russell is trying not to sit with it too much and keep the focus mainly on improving the W14.
Calm under failure to win
In front of GPblog and others, Russell was asked whether it is very difficult to accept that fighting for wins is not possible under normal circumstances. "Last week I think Max said it like this: that's life sometimes and I'm not going to sit here sulking about the car not being fast enough. I just have to concentrate on my work, work hard with my team and life always points itself out. Everyone always gets their chance."
The current number five acknowledges that sometimes some get a bit more chances than others, but a chance always comes. It is up to him to grab it immediately with both hands. "I'm 25 years old and when I see what Lewis and Fernando are doing, I see no reason why I can't be here for another 15, 17, 18 years, so when I look at it like that, I'm not worried. " In any case, Russell will not lack for experience later on, as after this season he already has more than 100 races behind his name.
Russell in qualifying
After ten races, it is 5-5 in the qualifying duel between Russell and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Yet qualifying did not go completely to plan several times in the past few weeks with, for example, eliminations in Q2 in Miami and Austria. From now on, he hopes to definitely start the way up.
"I think it's important sometimes not to overthink things. Go back to basics. Work on the processes with the team. What I need as a driver to maximise my performance, what I'm looking for from the car. Just not overthinking things sometimes. I know that when I tick all of those boxes I can beat anybody on this grid and I think it's important that you do tick those boxes."
According to Russell, it is especially important to get the simple things right. "We often fall into a trap of wanting to do more. Work on finer details, work even harder and sometimes you overcomplicate things and it's counterproductive," he says. "It's striking that right balance because I'm always striving for more, pursuing for more but sometimes you can't overwork and it's going to hinder your performance."