F1 is witnessing a handing of the baton. The old timers are being replaced by the new crop of talent. Among those being replaced are legends like Lewis Hamilton too. George Russell looks like the heir-apparent for Lewis’ seat.

George Russell is a product of the Mercedes Junior Team Program, their own young driver development program. He drove for Mercedes’ sister team in F1, Williams, for two years. So in no manner are his abilities or capabilities alien to the paddocks. They’ve shown why he was chosen to come in for Valtteri Bottas.

He is currently at P4 in the Drivers’ Standings and just 16 points off Charles Leclerc at P2. However one would be wrong to think he is satisfied with his performances. Not even remotely close to being so.

Russell said emphatically, “I don’t care about finishing second in the Championship, it’s not my goal.”

“We’re all here to win. You give me a choice between finishing fourth in the Championship and having a race win or two under my belt or finishing second with no wins, I’ll take fourth. That is now the position we’re in, we want to win a race,” said the Briton.

He grabbed his first pole position in F1 at the Hungaroring this year.

“Everyone had their head in their hands, confused. So that pole was such a special moment which it made it all worth it. It’s definitely more rewarding, we’d been working so hard towards that,” he told.

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His drive to survive makes him a ferocious contender. While the Championship is realistically out of reach, nudging Leclerc off his P2 is not. It may not be what Russell started out the year with but he will be content with it at the end of the day.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have had a bad 2022

For fans who have seen Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton dominate the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships, 2021 was a tremor. 2022 meanwhile has been a 10.0 on the Richter Scale.

The team won 8 Constructors’ Championships. Straight! Pair with that 7 Drivers’ Championships. However, in 2022 their performances have been disappointing. 

Team principal Toto Wolff let his rivals know that they’ve already found what changes they need to make to climb back to the top. He said “I think it’s more a question of things you don’t see on the car rather than what you see… It’s more changing things underneath the car. You can clearly see the Red Bull runs the car much higher… This is the right compromise they are getting.”

Hamilton also said, “For me, it’s just about focussing on how we build and design next year’s car. The other two teams ahead of us are in another league but our car looks so much different to theirs. So we have a lot of work to do.”

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Wolff, Russell, and Hamilton will be raring to make a go at the 2023 championship. They cannot let Red Bull establish the dominance Mercedes once had.