S\u00e3o Paulo Grand Prix in 2022<\/a>, in Las Vegas in 2024 and last season at Canada and Singapore.<\/p>\nHe was without doubt frustrated at not having a more consistently quick car but kept his head down and ground out the results, all the while patiently honing his craft.<\/p>\n
When 2026 opened and, as had been expected, Mercedes stole something of a march on the opposition under the new regulations, Russell was more than ready to step up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve got anything to prove, to be honest,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s helped me a lot as I\u2019ve gotten older because when you\u2019re younger you are trying to prove yourself and you want to try and be funny, you want to come across nice. You want to do this, you want to do that, to please the right people, whereas now, I don\u2019t really care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to be myself, I want to be happy with the people who are closest to me, I want to work hard with my team, and I want to drive as fast as possible on the racetrack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Driving fast on the racetrack has been a constant since Russell started karting as a kid, before which he had been following his brother on the karting circuit, zipping round the paddock on a pedal tractor with a water tank on the back to fill the kart\u2019s radiator. Yet with experience has also come the realisation that relentless focus on that one thing might not be entirely beneficial. Russell now explains that an equally important component of his championship ambition is the people he has closest to him.<\/p>\n
A fan at Suzuka shows where his feelings lie. Photograph: Mark Sutton\/Formula 1\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Outside his family he cites a triumvirate of Aleix Casanovas, his trainer since 2017, and Harry Soden, his manager since 2013, and his girlfriend Carmen Montero Mundt, whom he has been with since 2020. Most drivers are at pains to keep their private lives private. Russell, however, is more than happy to share the pivotal role Carmen has played even switching her time zone to his when they are in different countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not many people in your life that you\u2019re happy to let your guard down to,\u201d Russell says. \u201cHaving that support from someone you love makes a big difference. We live this spectacular life but you are on the road by yourself quite often. You get to a hotel, you\u2019ve got fans outside, and you\u2019re not there having a good time with your mates. You\u2019re quite isolated in your hotel room and it\u2019s difficult to get about. So, having that mental support is a huge part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore a race, if there are certain nerves, I feel comfortable sharing that with her and she\u2019ll help me deal with those nerves or it is supporting me through the time-zone shifts. She supports me through everything, but beyond that, she actually really understands the sport and what it takes for me to perform at the level I do. She knows what it takes and she\u2019s on this journey with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is an honesty and transparency to Russell\u2019s discussion of his feelings and their role in professional life that is engaging, especially given how painfully guarded some drivers can be.<\/p>\n
George Russell has his sights set on the world title this year. Photograph: Issei Kato\/Reuters<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you get older, you get a better perspective on life,\u201d he says. \u201cGrowing up, every single second was F1 and racing. When I got a bit older I realised if you\u2019re consumed every minute of every day on that goal, it actually can be counterproductive.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to do your best in every single area but the truth is, you can\u2019t. Because there\u2019s too many things going on. So, just finding what\u2019s going to give you the best performance on a Saturday or Sunday is what I\u2019ve worked on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, said he believed Russell was in the top three drivers in F1 and \u201cmaybe on his way to top one\u201d. On these early performances Russell is meeting theexpectation of being the best. Wolff went further, ruling out any move for Max Verstappen and putting his backing with Russell for up to another decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge has been with us since 2017 and there is no reason why that shouldn\u2019t keep going until 2037. The Max to Mercedes thing for now is not on. The situation is completely transparent. We have clear contracts with both drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
A long season remains, with 20 races still to go, but it is clear Russell is not going to let the best chance of his career go begging, pressure that the British driver says he carries with ease.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel zero weight, I feel zero pressure, I feel no additional excitement because I was always so excited to go racing, even when I was at the back I was just so excited to go racing,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not thinking: \u2018I\u2019m leading the championship, this is awesome, this is what I\u2019ve dreamed of\u2019. It\u2019s not, I didn\u2019t dream of leading the championship, I dreamed of winning the championship. That, I hope, is what I\u2019ll feel at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell endured a baptism of fire, battling a recalcitrant Williams car at the back end of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-565075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}