George Russell has hit back at critics who claim he makes too many mistakes, saying he could drive “a tenth” off pace to get the car safely home, or he could push.
He chooses to do the latter, especially as Mercedes seeks wins rather than world titles.
George Russell: People can say what they want…
Although Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix, albeit losing two positions when Max Verstappen and Lando Norris crashed, the Briton still faced criticism.
Brazilian journalist Julianne Cerasoli told the F1 Nation podcast she feels Toto Wolff’s radio message when Russell took the lead was because “there is this concern” within the Mercedes group that he is overdoing it.
“I feel that Mercedes senses that George sometimes changes a bit and becomes a bit aggressive or starts making mistakes when he feels he has the chance to win,” he added.
Russell is perplexed by the criticism, as the two-time F1 Grand Prix winner feels mistakes are the result of pushing, and that is exactly what he is doing to get Mercedes back to the front of the F1 field.
“I don’t need to respond to those people,” Russell said. motorsports.com One of his critics: “Because I’m focused on my own work. 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. And the way I’m pushing myself now has allowed me to outperform my teammate in qualifying eight times out of nine races this season (9-2 after Austria) and has allowed 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 be regretting not pushing hard.
“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…
“It seems like there were three opportunities in 115 races to get the win. And trying to get it in the moment, 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.”
He added: “I think in my career so far in F1 I’ve had three opportunities to win. It was probably Bahrain 2020, which should have been a win, but that was out of my control. Brazil (2022) and then Montreal.
“If I count Bahrain as a victory, I think I’m there to take those moments as they come.”
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But while Russell admits his actions at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he twice went off track, may have cost him a race win, he insists he will “reduce the risk/reward” if or when he finds himself in a title fight.
“In that race in Canada, I was pushing 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, ‘Second place is the result today,’” he said. “I would accept it. And I need to reduce the risk/reward ratio of how hard I’m driving.
“Meanwhile, at this point in the race, that dial is at maximum because I want to get 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 same number of points that year as 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.”
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