How the (lost) challenge with Hamilton in 2023 shaped the George Russell of today

The painful defeat with Hamilton in 2023 After a brilliant start at the wheel of Mercedes in 2022, George Russell failed to repeat himself in the following season, paying a big gap in terms of points compared to his famous teammate at the time, Lewis Hamilton. A season, 2023, which is evidently negative – more in terms of results than performance itself – which however today is the strength of the talented English driver. This is said by Russell himself who, quoted by his colleagues at RacingNews365, reveals how that clear defeat at the hands of Sir Lewis was decisive in building the driver who this year got the most possible out of the Mercedes W16 package. George Russell speaks “It was precisely during the time spent with Lewis – explains George Russell – that I felt the desire to push myself beyond my limits to see if I still had something to give. I wanted to go beyond the limit and see what would happen. It was especially in 2023 that it was no longer enough for me to fight just for the podium, I preferred to try and go beyond the limit to try to obtain an exceptional result, rather than settle for a podium or a fourth place. But this backfired on me a bit so, to As a result, I slowed down the pace a bit and this attitude probably helped me achieve better results overall.” “This is a sport where emotions are very intense, especially in the heat of the moment, and I think that’s absolutely normal – he adds – but when you’re in the engineering office, in the design office, discussing updates and the direction that needs to be taken, it’s very important to have a clear mind and a clear vision, so as not to overreact at certain moments. It’s important to try to apply more objective reasoning as to why a particular weekend may have been a failure, or may not have been, because in F1 there is never a single reason that it makes a weekend great or bad.” “Surely there are always theories circulating, which point to certain aspects as the reason for our failure, and if we act on the basis of that theory, we risk taking the wrong direction,” concludes George Russell.