A steely glint appears in Mercedes driver George Russell’s eyes when Autosport asks him whether he makes too many mistakes under the pressure of winning Formula 1 races.
It’s raining outside, the Barcelona paddock has been raining all day. Russell himself is a mix of darkness and light: a huge black Mercedes coat sits over equally huge white trousers with the brand’s monogram.
After he answers, the rain will clear, and that weekend in Spain will never return. Russell will banish memories of his two exits that cost him a place in the Canadian Grand Prix and will face Oscar Piastri, after leading the early stages from pole. He will have a standout race in the Spanish race, taking a surprise lead, fighting hard with leaders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, and then facing teammate Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling internal fight at Mercedes.
He will lose, but he will do so with aplomb. Next time in Austria, he will be in the perfect position to take advantage of the clash between Verstappen and Norris: he will take his second GP victory.
“I don’t need to answer those people[who say I crack under pressure],” Russell begins, before doing exactly that. “Because I’m focused on my own job. I could drive at a tenth of the pace for 70 laps straight and I wouldn’t make a single mistake.
“In 2022 I didn’t make a single mistake all season, but I wasn’t pushing myself like I am now. The way I’m pushing myself now has allowed me to outscore my teammate in qualifying eight times out of nine races this season (it’s 9-2 in the GP standings after Austria alone) and allows me to be ahead of him in most of these races.
“I could drive a tenth off the pace, not make a single mistake and still finish third (in Canada), and it would look like a flawless race from the outside. But knowing I have a tenth on the table, I would regret not pushing myself to the limit.
“So people can say what they want. I’m trying my hardest. And maybe I’m going a little bit overboard because I’m trying to…”
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo credit: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Russell loses pace. At this point, it’s worth recalling how, in a 2022 campaign that was generally very consistent, he outpaced Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher on his way to 14th in Singapore that year and played a part in the dramatic crash at the start of Silverstone. Also, in the context of the day’s topic, Singapore 2023 should be highlighted as another potential win that ended in a mistake.
That’s because the Mercedes pair were closing in on eventual winner Carlos Sainz and Norris on that occasion. Russell’s failure to overtake the latter even before crashing on the final lap was a key factor in many F1 observers wondering whether Hamilton could have won had he been the Silver Arrows’ lead driver that day.
But, back to Russell responding to his critics: “I feel like I’ve had three chances in 115 races to get the win. And trying to achieve that at the time, like when I was a kid, racing in F2, F3, GP3, everything else, when I won championships, I just accepted the result that was on the table.
“If I win today, I’ll take the win, if I finish third, I’ll take third. If I was third, I didn’t push myself to the limit to try and get the win, because I knew that to win a championship I only needed to score points.
“Yes, mistakes happen, that’s life. We’ve all been through times when we make mistakes, but they happen when I’m trying my hardest and I think I’m in that position because I’m driving better than ever.”
That has given him an 11-3 record in qualifying (sprints and all in 2024) against Hamilton and a 26-point lead in the standings against his teammate. Impressive, against a driver with 104 pole positions.
But what has stood out this season is how Russell has been able to raise his game when it matters in qualifying, or at least maintain it better in the face of the demanding handling characteristics of the W15 on the tricky Pirelli tyres.
Are you then satisfied with your record against your illustrious teammate in 2024?
“Yeah, I know if this was a different time I’d probably have eight pole positions to my name this season and several wins,” he replies, a steely determination now breaking through Russell’s voice.
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo credit: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“I have never lost faith or satisfaction in myself. And perhaps my way of driving in races would be slightly different if I were fighting for a championship rather than for a victory in a race, perhaps in a season.
“In that race in Canada I was pushing way beyond my limits because I felt it was a unique opportunity to win, whereas if I was in a championship fight against Max I would probably have said: ‘P2 is today’s result’.
“I accept that. And I need to reduce the risk/reward ratio of how hard I’m driving. Whereas, at this point in the race, that gauge is at its maximum because I want to get one (another) win to my name.
“That’s the mentality I have at the moment. To be honest, I don’t enjoy driving like that because I would rather be more consistent like I was in 2022. But after six years in (F1), it doesn’t give me the satisfaction of consistently finishing only in the top five.
“In 2022, I have finished in the top five more than any other driver on the grid (Russell scored the most points that year with Verstappen and Sergio Perez, with 20), but I would rather finish P6 in every race and have two wins than finish P5, P4, P3 in every race and not get the race win.
“I hope that mentality can change next year, if we have a car that can fight for the championship.”
Speaking about the Canadian race, Russell said: “I was a bit hard on myself. When I looked at the race as a whole, we all made mistakes at certain times.
“Max went off track at Turn 1 and lost three seconds,” Russell added. “He went off track again at Turn 3 when Logan (Sargeant) crashed, but the safety car came out. Lando went off track at Turn 1.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo credit: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images
“Obviously I went off track when I was ahead of Lando, which was a 10cm mistake. On the previous lap I was next to the white line, on that lap I was 10cm above it. A small mistake, with slightly bigger consequences. The most serious one was with Piastri, who couldn’t get past (at the last chicane, where they both touched slightly).
“But I came away thinking that of course I could have done it differently, but if I had won that race and Lando hadn’t, he’d be saying the same thing. Or if I had won the race and Max hadn’t, he’d be saying, ‘about this mistake there and this mistake here’.
“It was one of those races where you had to go all the way on the right tyre to do it and I think, realistically, in that race without safety cars Lando would have won.
“He adjusted the tyre pressure. I probably made the mistake of pumping up the tyres on the grid because it was raining and we thought it would rain more in 20 minutes. But it rained in 40 minutes and that’s why we were so fast at the start, but then we fell off like a stone afterwards.
“I think Max did something similar, as we both followed each other’s pace. I could also say it was a big missed opportunity for him. That’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes.”
With Mercedes now out of the title race for a third year in a row, Russell heads into the race where he will face the most pressure of all: the British GP.
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, 1st position, celebrates his arrival in Parc Fermé
Photo credit: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Local races raise expectations, although the high-speed nature of Silverstone is unlikely to boost the W15 compared to the RB20 or MCL38, as Barcelona proved. But the Austria result is still fresh in F1’s minds.
Win or lose, come rain or shine, Russell’s determination is clear. Mistakes happen at the edge, but he has a telling response to those who say he cracks under pressure. And it all goes back to a time before he was a regular Mercedes driver and his one race as a stand-in for Hamilton due to the seven-time world champion contracting COVID.
“I think in my career so far in F1 I’ve had three chances to win,” he explains. “It was probably Bahrain 2020, which should have been a win, but that was out of my control. Brazil (2022) and then Montreal.
“Yeah I consider Bahrain as a victory, I think I am there to take these moments as they come.”
