(Motorsport-Total.com) – George Russell has ended his dry spell: With his victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver impressively proved that he has not forgotten how to win. After all, the Briton’s last success, when he triumphed at the season opener in Australia in mid-March, was more than three months ago.
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“It has been a few difficult months with some really tricky races,” summarizes Russell, who has moved back up to second place in the drivers’ championship. “[There were] races where it felt like everything was going against me, and others with difficult performances.”
All the more relief after the triumph in Spielberg. The victory feels especially “great,” explains the 28-year-old in an interview with Sky UK. “It was a psychologically difficult phase.” However, his home race, the British Grand Prix, is now waiting.
“I won’t put extra pressure on myself, but I also won’t be too relaxed,” Russell tries to find a healthy middle ground. “That’s exactly the attitude I want and need to have. Also, Silverstone hasn’t been particularly good to me in my Formula 1 career so far.”
“Maybe I haven’t treated the weekend enough like a normal race weekend so far. But that’s also difficult because it’s such an extraordinary weekend,” says the Mercedes driver, who now travels to Silverstone with momentum after his win in Austria.
Toto Wolff: “Sometimes you forget the essentials”
Team principal Toto Wolff also sees the victory as an important signal. “It’s simply an environment with enormous pressure,” he emphasizes. “You have a young teammate who is also very strong, then you have a retirement, you fall back in the overall standings – and I think, like every top athlete, you can get caught in a spiral.”
“It’s not a spiral of negativity, but rather a spiral of overthinking. What can I do better? Where do I need to optimize further?” Wolff knows. “And sometimes you then forget the essentials – namely just driving the car.”
Exactly that has been talked about a lot internally in recent weeks. “It’s about simply being in the moment and driving the car. Don’t think too much about the strategy or what Kimi is doing. Just drive the car as fast as you can, watch the tire temperatures and don’t overheat them.”
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“Those are the only metrics you need to look at,” says Wolff, who at the same time warns: “I’ve said before that in this sport we tend to swing between mania and depression. One weekend we’re the greatest, world champions, and everything is fantastic.”
Team principal warns: “It’s important to maintain balance”
“And the next weekend, five days later, there’s great depression: Everything is crap, the upgrade didn’t work, the engine isn’t what we hoped for.” Especially under the current regulations, which are new for all drivers and teams, such performance fluctuations are completely normal.
“It’s important to maintain balance and stay neutral,” says Wolff. “There will be retirements that go in your favor or not. You win some races, score solid points in others, lose some – and over the 22 races we hopefully have this season, you have to get the maximum out of it.”
Therefore, it is wrong to declare a state of emergency after every setback and claim that everything is ruined. With his win in Austria, Russell has underlined that he still has the potential for race wins – and thus remains a serious title contender in the second half of the season.
Russell: “It’s about understanding the complete package”
“That’s why,” says the Mercedes team principal, “let’s maintain this development, that’s important. And that’s exactly why I never doubted that this could still go very far in the drivers’ championship and that he could potentially fight for the title.”
“I never doubted my abilities this year, but maybe the process, and I had to get that back under control,” adds Russell. “You can also see that in how Lewis Hamilton has fought back this year or how Charles Leclerc, one of the best qualifiers on the grid, has had such big difficulties this year.”
“We haven’t suddenly forgotten how to drive the car or had to relearn it,” emphasizes the championship runner-up. “It’s simply about understanding the complete package and using it optimally. And I definitely feel that with every lap and every race I am making great progress in this regard. That’s why I feel good.”
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