George Russell, who will be part of the Mercedes F1 team alongside Lewis Hamilton this season, raised eyerbrows with his statements made earlier this month.
Follow Us
George Russell insists he isn’t playing mind games ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season with his claims that other teams look quick early on.
Russell, who will be part of the Mercedes F1 team alongside Lewis Hamilton this season, raised eyerbrows with his statements made earlier this month.
During pre-season testing in Barcelona, the Brit singled out McLaren and Ferrari for praise. “Some teams, a red team and an orange team in particular, look very, very competitive,” was his statement.
Many naturally assumed he was downplaying expectations; a natural assumption given Mercedes are one of the most dominant cars on the grid right now.
However, the British driver said he simply called it like he saw it. He also said that testing did not tell the full story, both in terms of his and other teams.
“I can’t be bothered with mind games, it’s too much effort. No, there are no mind games,” Russell said.
“We’re just working on our own programme and, to be honest, it is absolutely unrepresentative what we’ve seen during testing,” he added.
Also read: Charles Leclerc confident for 2022 F1 season but warns P1 in testing means nothing
“You know who is probably in the top half, and you know who’s in the bottom half, but when it comes to qualifying you’ve got tenths of a second splits between [teams], which is the equivalent of five kilos worth of fuel. So yeah, [it’s] totally unrepresentative,” the 24-year-old reiterated.
“Things will probably look very different with the development by the time we get to Bahrain. Maybe Lando is playing mind games, but we’re not!”
Given Russell is in one of the grid’s top cars, many hope he can make a run for the championship. There’s little doubting the fact that the 24-year-old has the ability to do it.
However, that isn’t something Russell is too preoccupied with at the moment. For him, it’s more about approaching the season with the right mindset.
“It’s not even something I’m thinking about, to be honest. I think it’s quite incredible how racing drivers’ minds work, that when you put the helmet on.
“Doesn’t matter if you’re fighting for a win or, for me for the last few years, fighting at the back of the grid. You always get on with the exact same mindset.
“And I had the best example of that in Bahrain when I raced for Mercedes [in 2020 Sakhir GP].
“For me, that was just another race, whether I was out in front or starting on the front row, the approach is the same, the mindset is the same, the work you put into the event, post-event, is exactly the same.”
