Russell: We are serious about fighting for the win

George Russell is ahead of Lewis Hamilton, his team-mate at Mercedes, after 18 stages of the season, but the qualifying matches are in favor of the seven-time world champion and yesterday he was a bit faster.

When asked how important it would be to him to beat Hamilton at the end of the season, Russell replied: “If I was asked this question at the start of the championship, I would say it literally means everything to me. Because if you’re ahead of Lewis, it probably means you’re fighting for the championship title yourself.

Of course I would like to finish the season higher than him, but I want to fight for wins, for pole positions, for titles, and now none of us are claiming to win the championship. But literally everything is at stake to make it possible in the future.

My main task in Sunday’s race will not be a rivalry with Lewis, but with the man who will lead, because in the US Grand Prix we are going to compete in earnest for the win. My mental state is exactly the same.

Of course I want to climb on the podium before the end of the season. The last time was a very long time ago and the Singapore and Japan races were generally terrible for me. That’s why I really want to return to the battle for top three places, to fight for wins. Even if we can’t win any race, it will be good if we manage to perform in the Grand Prix like in Budapest or Zandvoort, where we certainly had a chance to win.

I think the next race promises to be very interesting. I expect everyone will have to deal with increasing rubber degradation which means we will see a lot of different tactical schemes. This is what makes Formula 1 racing so exciting, and if the distance can be covered with a single pit stop without much effort, there is usually a lot less action on the track.”