Building on last year’s best meme template, we say, “George Russell is the type of guy to back his team’s arch-nemesis“. We’ve come to this conclusion after seeing the recent and past statements from the Mercedes driver. Although, of course, he wouldn’t want Red Bull to succeed and wants Mercedes to get back to winning ways, he doesn’t wish them ill either and kind of holds plenty of faith in their abilities.

Russell and Lewis Hamilton have struggled this season due to the ongoing troubles with the W14. The upgrades, however, have certainly boosted their cars, right from the Australian GP. Yet, they are only at least the third-fastest car on the grid, possibly tied with Ferrari. Now, with the goal of cutting the gap to Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, George Russell still believes that Red Bull is invincible and Mercedes won’t be having any world-changing upgrades in Imola.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Russell establishes the expectations of his team and Red Bull. Speaking about why Mercedes probably won’t be winning, he says, “Man, there’s a lot of expectation around Imola, but everybody’s moving forward. Everyone’s bringing upgrades, for sure. We’ll go a small step in the right direction. I’d like to think we can transform things, but it’s just Formula One. It’s never, never that straightforward.”

“I have, but the sim is not reality, so I won’t give any secrets away. As I said, don’t expect the world to change in Imola. Red Bull are still going to be the quickest. I don’t care where we are. We’re chasing them, and we want to be there,” he added when asked if he had tested the upgrades on the simulator.

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Previously, he even backed Red Bull to win all the races this season. In addition to that, he has repeatedly expressed his thoughts that the Milton Keynes-based squad might not even be running at full power. The faith that he holds in his rival team is probably stronger than his own in making a revolutionary change.

Toto Wolff sets the expectations straight for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton

George Russell came to Mercedes with a lot of expectations. Lewis Hamilton hoped to win his eighth championship. But both expectations have been set aside by the team’s boss, Toto Wolff, who expects the development to take quite some time. For that, he has already been clear about the expectations, as he doesn’t want the drivers and fans to expect a massive overhaul.

As quoted by the Express, he says, “We have to be careful that we have our expectations under control. I don’t think we’ll get there and suddenly we’re half a second faster and in the middle of a fight. We won’t, but we are now laying a new foundation and at least taking some issues off the table that we believe are contributing to us being too slow.”

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The slow and steady progress made has shown results for Mercedes. Looking at the pace and good upgrades for Imola, the team can probably start hunting Alonso for the last podium spot.