'Never Achieved Results That I Felt Were Deserved': Russell Rues On 2023 Season

Sunday, 03 December 2023 at 18:00

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Formula One driver George Russell said he thought Mercedes deserved better results at times throughout the 2023 season.

On the one hand, Mercedes struggled multiple times throughout the 2023 season during races like the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Japanese Grand Prix, and most recently - the Sao Pulo Grand Prix.

On the other hand, the team has shown maybe the fastest pace of all teams during races like the United States Grand Prix or the Singapore Grand Prix.

On the other hand, the Silver Arrows were just not able to put things together on the weekends that suited their car. George Russell told the media he thought his team deserved some better results:

"It’s been a season where we've had a lot of pace at times, but never achieved the results that I felt were deserved, or were possible. So we definitely need to try and understand why that was."

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If we look at Red Bull Racing, they are on the other side of the spectrum. No matter what starting position, track, or conditions, the Milton Keynes team won 21 out of 22 races in 2023.

George Russell might particularly regret the only race that Red Bull didn't win, the Singapore Grand Prix. The Mercedes F1 driver had a chance to compete for the Grand Prix victory but crashed and put himself totally out of points.

"There's been a huge amount of missed opportunities, in many regards. It really hasn't been a smooth season. But I think when everything's flowing, when everything's working, right, luck tends to be on your side."

Mercedes obviously did not like a season that was so inconsistent, and both drivers and their team principal, Toto Wolff, confirmed the team would be changing their car completely for next season.

While Russell highlighted he does not believe in luck, he thinks it is easier to get into flow when keeping it that way when things are going well. He concluded:

"But when you're on the backfoot, you tend to have bad luck. I'm not one for believing in luck. I think you make your own luck. So we just need to be faster. And Lady Luck will be with us."