George Russell is ready to « sacrifice part of the season » in order to have a car capable of winning
Between a long progression or Mercedes sacrificing part of the season to put themselves in a position to win, George Russell would choose the latter option.
Mercedes is not necessarily having the best start to the season. This raises questions about the concept of the W14. Toto Wolff (Mercedes Team Principal) revealed to ORF (Austrian media) that another concept had already been developed in the wind tunnel. We need to analyze the data and decide on the direction to take.
George Russell says that he agrees, if this decision involves sacrificing a portion of the season in order to win races later in the season, or even in 2024. We are here to win. Obviously, we want to maximize every result, but if you give me the choice between fighting for points or having a chance to win races every time, I obviously choose victories. So, if we have to sacrifice certain races or a part of the season to give ourselves a chance of getting a car that can compete for wins in the second half of the season or even next year, I say yes.
“Russell believes Red Bull could win all the races in 2023.”
The British driver who won his first victory at the Brazil Grand Prix last year. He entered this new season with the goal of adding wins to his record. However, after the Bahrain Grand Prix, a race where the Mercedes crossed the finish line 50 seconds behind the winner Max Verstappen, the gap is too large to hope to compete for the victory. Mercedes is only the fourth fastest team in the race, ahead of Aston Martin and Ferrari. While he was six tenths behind Verstappen in qualifying, Russell finished in 7th place in the race, notably overtaken by the two Aston Martin cars. The 25-year-old driver states that his team is far from their goals: “We are clearly far behind. We’re not beating around the bush. Of course, it’s a tough blow for all of us, but we are far behind our objectives.”
The superior pace of Red Bull not only against Mercedes but the rest of the field, leads Russell to predict that they could win all 23 races this season. « Red Bull has already managed to win this championship. I don’t think anyone will be able to compete with them this year. They could win every race, that’s my bet. »
