George Russell believes Mercedes will be able to overcome the difficulties of the past two seasons and that the team’s enormous efforts will pay off.
Q: What’s your mood ahead of a tough season?
George Russell: Now is a very interesting time, when many unknowns are waiting for us, we drive many laps on the simulator, hold many meetings with designers, with engineers, and all together we prepare the car for work. And now the time has come for us to see how it works on a real track.
Q: How important has been the journey the team has taken over the past twelve months?
George Russell: Extremely important, because at the beginning of 2022 we found out that the car was not working as expected, but after that the team was able to sort out a lot of things. The bases in Brackley and Brixworth are home to a diverse team of 2,000 people, some of whom have already won races and championships, but also some new faces – all with the same goal: to put Mercedes back at the top.
Everyone is in a fighting spirit, everyone is working hard, and as already said, so far we have only seen drawings, analyzed the results of aerodynamic studies, worked on the simulator, seen images on computers, but today we see the real car for the first time, and this is a very exciting moment.
Question: Do you experience an emotional uplift before getting behind the wheel of the W15?
George Russell: To be honest, I couldn’t sleep last night, all because of the anticipation of getting to know the new car. I don’t think until we get to the third, fourth or fifth round of the season we’ll have an idea of what to expect in terms of pace. And when we go to the first tests and the first race, we don’t know at all how the car will behave.
There are certain signs that the team has improved, but we don’t know what the opponents have achieved. Have we managed to take a step forward? Or have we made some mistakes? Maybe some of the teams that were behind us will surprise us with an unexpected breakthrough?
It is now a period in which everyone is full of expectations, but we can only take a good look at ourselves, continue to work and still do everything in our power. I believe we will be able to achieve our goals, and I don’t care about the rest.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
