Russell Opens Up: 'Toughest Season I've Ever Had, Psychologically'

Saturday, 23 December 2023 at 23:00

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George Russell reflected on the challenging 2023 season, saying it was probably the "toughest season" he's had psychologically.

George Russell came to Mercedes to replace Valtteri Bottas and race alongside one of the few most accomplished F1 drivers on the grid, the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

In his first season with Silver Arrows, Russell managed to beat Hamilton in the Championship. However, everything changed this year, and Hamilton was able to show a better race pace compared to Russell on more occasions.

What also happened to the 25-year-old was that he missed a few quite big opportunities to score by crashing, like during the Canadian Grand Prix or the Singapore Grand Prix. As quoted by mirror.co.uk, Russell said:

"No doubt it's been probably the toughest season I've ever had, psychologically. Bouncing back from missed opportunities, missed results, mistakes. I think this is when you push yourself."

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Mercedes has had the most equal driver pairing this season in terms of qualifying head-to-head, as the score between Russell and Hamilton after the final race of the season was 11:11. But the Brit shared that is not enough for him.

"I'm purposely trying to push myself further and beyond, and I'm not satisfied with just being on par with my team-mate in qualifying or whatever it may be."

The 25-year-old was able to match the pace of the seven-time World Champion on most occasions, but that is not enough if he ever wants to fight for the Championship.

"Or last year [when] we were very even across the whole season. I want to be ahead. And that's what I'm pushing myself for. I'm thankful it's not a season where we're fighting for a championship victory."

Russell is aware he needs to be clearly better than his teammate if he wants to win the Championship, even in a dominant car, and that is an enormous task when he competes with the seven-time World Champion.

On the other hand, the 25-year-old shows great promise, and even Martin Brundle recently stated it wasn't so clear to him whether Hamilton could beat his teammate in a battle for the title. Russell added:

"And I'm confident next season will be very different. Because I know the sort of driver who I am. I know one year like this is not going to take away from all of my other consistent seasons, championship-winning seasons. I know it won't take a lot to find myself in that good rhythm once again."