After twelve races as a Mercedes driver this season, George Russell is happy where he is, but he would still like to improve and become a winner. And he plans to learn all there is to learn from his fellow Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, whom Russell calls the “greatest driver of all time.”
In a new interview with BBC, George Russell revealed that he is pleased with where he is, but he would like to improve his numbers. "Going up against the greatest driver of all time, where do you set your expectations?" he started. "It's by no means been a bad start to the season, but I would still like to raise my game a little bit.”
"If I'm performing against the very best in sport - and I want to be the very best - I need to be at the top of my game every single week. I need to keep on improving. I need to look at my team-mate and see if he's consistently doing something better. And there are certain little things that he is probably consistently better at than I am, for the time being, that I want to improve on. I expected no less, and I think that's just a natural part of an athlete's or driver's development."
The 24-year-old British driver is currently in fifth place, 16 points ahead of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
"I'm just going out there to try and do my own business, to do the best possible job that I can. And if I'm ahead of Lewis, great. If I was a bit behind, that's how it is. But I still believe in myself and I believe I've got the potential to win championships. It's all about the mentality you have."
George Russell is also the type of guy who truly believes Mercedes will have a win within the ten upcoming races left of the season, calling it "definitely a realistic ambition". He continued that they had opportunities for victories in Barcelona and at Silverstone and they can close the gap. “Whether we'll ever have the outright fastest car this year, I don't think so. But there will definitely be times we can fight for a victory.”
"If I'm performing against the very best in sport - and I want to be the very best - I need to be at the top of my game every single week. I need to keep on improving. I need to look at my team-mate and see if he's consistently doing something better. And there are certain little things that he is probably consistently better at than I am, for the time being, that I want to improve on. I expected no less, and I think that's just a natural part of an athlete's or driver's development."
The 24-year-old British driver is currently in fifth place, 16 points ahead of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
"I'm just going out there to try and do my own business, to do the best possible job that I can. And if I'm ahead of Lewis, great. If I was a bit behind, that's how it is. But I still believe in myself and I believe I've got the potential to win championships. It's all about the mentality you have."
George Russell is also the type of guy who truly believes Mercedes will have a win within the ten upcoming races left of the season, calling it "definitely a realistic ambition". He continued that they had opportunities for victories in Barcelona and at Silverstone and they can close the gap. “Whether we'll ever have the outright fastest car this year, I don't think so. But there will definitely be times we can fight for a victory.”