George Russell expected to be a race winner at Mercedes by now
Despite an underperforming car, Russell has finished in the top five in every race so far this season but is stil seeking a maiden victory
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Your support makes all the difference.George Russell admits he expected to have won his first race with Mercedes by this stage of the season but concedes he has probably maximised the performance of a struggling car.
Russell has been a model of consistency since joining from Williams in the off-season, as the only F1 driver with a top-five finish in every race this term, but Mercedes have been a rung below Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of car performance.
A battle against porpoising has limited the team’s ambitions but the 24-year-old has consistently outperformed his more illustrious team-mate Lewis Hamilton to lie a creditable fourth in the Drivers’ Championship on 84 points - behind only Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, and a point ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari.
In the Constructors’ Championship, eight-time champions Mercedes are languishing in the unfamiliar position of third and after making the move to the F1 giants, Russell acknowledges he expected a maiden race victory to his name by now.
“I think if you told me prior to the season that we’d be seven races in and I wouldn’t have a victory to my name, I would have definitely been a bit disappointed with that,” explained Russell.
“But I think given the pace of the car and given where we’ve been as a team, I’ve been reasonably pleased with how I’ve performed. I think the results have been maximised.
“I don’t see many races where we could have achieved better results, but we’ve definitely got room to improve. You are constantly striving for more when you understand the car more, the tyres more. And, you know, I want to fight for this championship.
“We’ve got to go against the likes of Max [Verstappen] at Red Bull and obviously Charles [Leclerc] is doing an extremely good job at the moment with Ferrari. But as a team, we just need to keep on pushing – I need to keep on pushing personally. So, more to come.”
The low-speed circuit at Monaco last time out highlighted some of the issues Mercedes are facing - as Russell finished fifth and Hamilton eighth - and it could be a similar story at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix around the streets of Baku.
“We encountered some of the limitations of our car at [Monaco],” added Russell. “But we’ve learned a lot and can put that to good use in the coming weeks to take another step forward. Overall, [P5 was] a decent result and I’m confident that we’ve got stronger days ahead of us.”
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