Mercedes driver George Russell is adamant he is “ready to fight for world championships” as he heads into his second season with the team.
The British driver has reflected on his difficult first season with the team as they struggled with the W13 cars throughout 2022. Despite the countless issues on the cars, the team were able to make significant developments towards the end of the year which saw Russell take his first F1 career win at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
During an interview with GPFans, Russell explained that he now feels “ready to fight” for championship titles and that he doesn’t regret last years performance. He said:
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“I definitely feel ready to fight for world championships.
“I don’t look back on any races with regret because ultimately, we did an incredibly good job just to be able to fight for these positions.
“The fact is victory was always a little bit out of sight because we just [didn’t] have the performance.
“We’re not going to sit here and be upset with the performances we had shown with the car we’ve produced.
Russell concluded that he and the team know they need to improve but that he believes 2023 will be “an exciting season”. He added:
“We’ve got a lot to be proud of, but as a team, we’ve got a lot that we know we need to improve and this is not the standard we set ourselves.
“[This year] is going to be an exciting season.”
The season will kick off with the Bahrain Grand Prix on 3rd – 5th March with the pre-season testing the week before. The car releases are also beginning on January 31st with Haas, and the Mercedes that Russell and Lewis Hamilton will drive will be released on February 15th.
