George Russell interview: ‘I’m not suffering second-season syndrome’

The sight of George Russell topping the timesheets in first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice at Yas Marina on Friday, only for a scrappy second session featuring crashes and red flags to stifle any momentum he had, almost summed up his season. It has never really got going.

This time last year the 25-year-old from King’s Lynn arrived in Abu Dhabi fresh from his first, and to date only victory in Formula One, in Brazil. An impressive debut season at Mercedes, following his big move from Williams, had seen him get the better of the most successful F1 driver of all time in Lewis Hamilton, marking him out as a future world champion.

This season has been harder work. Heading into Sunday’s race, Russell trails Hamilton by 72 points in the championship, a significant margin. He already knows he cannot improve on eighth place in the standings.

It would appear to be a classic case of second-season syndrome; more pressure following that critically-acclaimed debut album, more scrutiny, more mistakes. Russell, though, rejects any suggestion that he has succumbed to the weight of expectation, or even that his levels have dipped. He struggles to put his finger on exactly what has changed.

“I would never call it bad luck,” he says, firmly. “I’ve always said and believed that you make your own luck. But I’ve never had a season where I’ve had so many… missed opportunities shall we say.”

‘It’s crazy that I have only one podium this year’

Russell sits back in Mercedes’ motorhome in Abu Dhabi and sighs. “Last year was plain sailing,” he continues. “I wouldn’t say it was anything special. It felt like a pretty normal season. But this year it’s been one thing after another… And I think you can have one missed opportunity, or two missed opportunities. 

“But when you start having seven, or eight, or nine missed opportunities, that’s something I need to look at and question because if I had had a smooth season like last year we could have been on the podium eight or nine times this year. Instead we’re sitting here now with one podium to my name. And I find that pretty crazy.”

Russell may not believe in bad luck, but there is no doubt he has had his share of misfortune; the blown engine in Melbourne that cost him a potential win; leaving it too late in qualifying in Budapest and exiting in Q1 when the car was quick enough to take pole; being left out too long in the rain in Zandvoort; the first corner incident with Hamilton in Qatar for which his team-mate took “100 per cent” responsibility.

But he has also undoubtedly made errors; the final-lap crash in Singapore, which he describes as his “lowest point of the season”; the incident with Max Verstappen in Las Vegas last weekend for which the Englishman received a five-second penalty. 

“There have been a few small incidents,” he says. “Nothing major, but they happened. They haven’t happened in previous years. I need to try to understand why that is.

“It’s not pressure. I don’t care if I have the greatest driver of all time in the garage next to me, or if I’m a one-man team. It doesn’t change the way I approach my job. There’s definitely been no additional pressure.”

Impatience then? Pushing too hard when the car is not there and then making a mistake, be that strategic or in terms of driver error? “Possibly,” he nods. “I do think we’ve sometimes focused too much on race set-up, which has cost us qualifying pace. And with the field more tightly bunched this season with McLaren and Aston in there, that can mean dropping four or five places.

“Plus I had a new race engineer this year. Riccy [Riccardo Musconi] got promoted last year, and Marcus [Dudley] and I have built a really good relationship over these races, but that takes time to build up.”

‘I’m up against the greatest driver of all time’

Russell says he takes heart from his pace, which has remained consistently strong. “I’ve been on Lewis’s level, on average, throughout this year,” he notes. “And I’m not satisfied with just being on his level. I want to be ahead of him. But I’ve also got to be realistic. 

“I’m going up against the greatest driver of all time. He’s definitely not a bad benchmark. And, you know, I think quali statistics, if you include sprint races, we’re exactly the same. And pace-wise, we’re generally the same as well.

“So there are positives. And to be honest I’d prefer to be sat here without the results, but with the pace. Rather than saying ‘Oh, we lucked into a result here or we lucked into a result there’ when actually I was a tenth or two off the pace.”

The question remains, though, even if Russell gets his act together next year, can Mercedes provide him with a car capable of fighting for race wins? Russell, as one might expect, sounds optimistic. 

“I certainly think we’re in a better place now than we were 12 months ago,” he says. “We’ve been working towards our new car concept for a number of months. We’ve cross-checked everything 1,000 times, and we’re all very confident. There’s no doubt Red Bull will start the season on top. But it is a long season. It starts earlier than ever and finishes later than ever. Things can change.

“For my part, I’m excited. I feel good within myself. And next year is a clean slate for everybody. I hope for a season where I can perform and get the results as I did in 2022, or at least maximise results as I did in 2022. My confidence hasn’t been dented whatsoever.”