The 24-year-old racer was impressive in his first year with Mercedes. George Russell’s transition from three years in the Williams F1 group to the Silver Arrows has been nothing but admirable. He also maintained a pretty good consistency last season. Albeit the team was dealing with a lot of issues with the new W13 cars, George Russell managed to keep a healthy average of top-five finishes in around nineteen out of twenty-two races last season. Even Lewis Hamilton faced a lot of trouble with the W13 cars. Not only that, Russell even won his maiden F1 race at the Brazil Grand Prix.
According to the chief engineer of the Silver Arrows, Andrew Shovlin, Russell’s lack of experience helped him to find his way around the W13 cars. Nonetheless, this year, engineers in the factory at Brackley will have to come up with a solution so that the drivers can give their best on the race track. But now, boss Toto Wolff has claimed that with more experience, George Russell can likely become a possible world champion, soon.
George Russell Is The Future Of F1 Motorsport, The Big Boss Feels
George Russell brought the only glory for the Mercedes racing team in 2022 with his win in Sao Paolo. However, last year, the F1 universe witnessed the end of the eight-year dominance of the Silver Arrows since Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton joined the group in 2013. They also witnessed the worst year based on the performance of Hamilton without a single win. The 38-year-old racer is integral to the Silver Arrows, but the 24-year-old is the future.
However, according to the big boss, Toto Wolff, the young British racer has the potential to be the World Champion in the future. Toto reckoned, “George Russell is always self-critical and eager to know how to do better. This attitude will take him a long way, even helping him become the world champion along the way.”
Toto Feels The Car Is Progressing Well, Increasing The Chances To Retain The World Title
Further, when asked about the car’s development, Toto replied that the team is looking for a different result in the final as the vehicles are evolving well. Mercedes will look to retain the World Title by beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, there will be a battle between the veteran and the youth in their camp. George Russell has proved he can beat the seven-time champ, as he did several times last season, especially in Sao Paolo.
Russell has displayed a hunger for winning the maiden title. On the other hand, Hamilton needs to find consistency and, with his experience, will not just be a challenge for other teams but even each other.
Toto Wolff believes the veteran and the youth are at their best. The car’s problems will be sorted out this year. Hence, Mercedes will be very hard to beat. Regarding their strategy, the boss said that with the combination of the best racers, there might be a shift of balance based on the best individual performances by the two.
Lewis Hamilton may take control in the first half of the season. And the second phase may see George Russell winning the most races or vice versa. Both the racers have pretty good camaraderie. Hence, they will figure out who will take the pressure and when. There are talks of that signing, which is about to happen very soon. Hamilton had already expressed his desire to finish his career with the Silver Arrows.